109801
A QENERAL HISTORY OF; -MUSIC
First Published
Volume 1 - - < 1776
Volume 2 * - - 1782
Volumes 3 & 4 - 1789
Second edition of
Volume 1 * - - 1789
Volume 2 - < > 1782?
CHARLES BURNEY Mus: Doci: OXON.
F • R • s .
A
GENERAL HISTORY
OF MUSIC
From the Earliest Ages to the
Present Period
(1789)
by
CHARLES BURNEY
Mus.D., F.R.S.
VOLUME THE FIRST
WITH CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL NOTES
by
FRANK MERCER
New Yorlc
HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY
INTRODUCTION
IN preparing this edition of Burney's " General History of
Music," my aim has been to make the work more valuable
to the general reader; that is, the class of reader for whom the
" History " was intended. I have not attempted to bring it
" up to date " in the sense of any tampering with the text, or
softening or altering the opinions held by the author. Too many
critics praise or censure Burney 's work (and, indeed, all Histories)
in accordance with the treatment, sympathetic or otherwise, meted
out to their own particular period. Burney's History is not a
period History — it is a General History, and it is an intensely
personal one. I do not intend to embark upon a defence of
Burney's opinions; they were his own, and they cannot be
dismissed lightly; but I must draw attention to one thing that is
frequently overlooked by many, and that is the necessity of
appreciating the 18th century meaning of words such as barbarous
and licentious, etc. The age of Burney was an age of frank
speaking, and one must not ignore this fact when reading works
of that period. Burney often uses words which have, since his
day, received a more special meaning, and if this is kept in mind
many of his so-called " savage and harsh strictures " will not
appear unfair.
In the present edition, Bumey's text and notes (with the original
spelling) have been given in full and unaltered with the following
exceptions :
(1) The transcription of the musical tract by Tunsted in the
second book has been punctuated correctly.
(2) A more correct version of Cutell's tract in Book 2 has been
substituted.
(3) The titles of the early English Psalters have been given in
more detail.
All the dates and corrections enclosed in square brackets [ ]
are additions for which I am responsible. •
The work has been re-indexed, and I trust that the new index
will be found more useful than the original one.
The musical examples are also complete with the exception of
a very dull example of a degree exercise, which will be -found in
Vol. Ill, p. 351, of the original edition. One or two examples
of the difficulties to be found in Virginal music have been curtailed,
but eaough remains to show the nature of the difficulty. Jja Up
musical examples, Burney employs almost every variety *
I think that the only one I have not discovered is the o
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
violin clef. The unusual ones have been altered to modern usage,
but I have retained the tenor and alto C clefs.
The question of the examples of Tudor music has given me
considerable trouble. Burney not only alters that peculiar feature
of the technique of the period, the so-called false relation or
augmented octave, but in some cases his scansion of the words has
made him change a semibreve into a dotted minim and a crotchet.
All cases of wrong notes have been altered, but in the majority
of cases I have allowed his arrangement of the words to stand.
For the sake of convenience Burney 's volumes are called Books,
so that Book 1 is Burney' s Volume I, etc. When volume is
mentioned it refers to the present edition.
My own notes are indicated by asterisks, and in selecting those
inserted, from the large number I had prepared, I have been
influenced by what might be most useful to the non-specialist.
If I endeavoured to thank publicly all those who have given
information and help in the preparation of this edition, my intro-
duction would be extended to an inordinate length, but I must give
my thanks to Dr. Percy Scholes for sending me a proof copy of
his valuable book, " The Puritans and Music "; to Miss Burney,
of Wandsworth, for permission to copy and include letters from
her collection of Burney MSS; to Richard Border, Esq., for the
letter from Burney to Lady Banks; to Raymond Conrad, Esq., for
information about the Troubadours; to the officials at the British
Museum and the Music Library of the University of London; to
G. Ceci for permission to photograph his copy of " A musical
evening at Dr. Burney' s "; to the Education Department of the
Columbia Graphophone Company, Ltd., for the loan of records:
and, above all, to my wife, without whose constant help my work in
connection with the publication could not have been accomplished,
1935. FRANK MERCER.
Abbreviations Used in the Editor's Notes
The usual abbreviations in connection with dates. Please note the c letter before a date
refers to one date only. Thus, for example, in c. 1500-57 the circa refers to 1500, and not to
1557. If both dates should be uncertain, the following would be used: c. 1500-5. 57.
Add. MSS .................... Additional manuscript.
Bib. Nat ........................ Bibliotheque National Paris.
B. &H ....................... Breitkopf & Hartel.
B.M ........................... British Museum.
Davey ......................... History of English Music (1921).
D.T.O ........... . ...... ..... Denkmaler der Tonkunst in Osterreich.
D.D.T. ........ ................ Denkmaler der Deutscher Tonkunst.
E.M.S .................. ....... English Madrigal School.
Grove's ........................ Grove's Dictionary of Music & Musicians (ard editioa unless
otherwise stated).
Harl .......................... Harlean Manuscripts.
L.M.M.F ....... ...... . . . . ...... Les Maitres Musiciens de la Renaissance (H. Expert) Fttncafo*,
O.E.E. ....... . .......... ...... Old English Edition (Arkwright).
OX.H.M. ... ..... .............. Oxford History of Music (latest edition unless otherwise stated).
Proske. MJ> ................. Musica Divina.
Q.L. ... ............. . ......... Eitner. Quellen-Lexikon.
Torchi. A.M.I. .. .............. L'Arte Musicale in Italia.
V.V.N.M. ..................... Vereeniging voor Nederlandsche Muztekgeschiedenis.
CONTENTS
BOOK I.
Page
DEDICATION 9
PREFACE 11
DEFINITIONS 21
DISSERTATION ON THE Music OF THE ANCIENTS
Section I. Of the Notation or Tablature of
Ancient Music, including its Scales,
Intervals, Systems, and Diagrams ... ... 23
Section II. Of the three Genera: Diatonic,
Chromatic, and Enharmonic ... .... 40
Section III. Of the Modes 53
Section IV. Of Mutations 64
Section V. Of Melopoeia 67
Section VI. Of Rhythm 71
Section VII. Of the Practice of Melopoeia ... 87
Section VIII. Whether the Ancients had
Counterpoint or Music in Parts 105
Section IX. Of Dramatic Music ... ... 133
Section X. Of the Effects Attributed to the
Music of the Ancients
THE HISTORY OF EGYPTIAN Music ...
THE HISTORY OF HEBREW Music
THE HISTORY OF GREEK Music
Chapter L Of Music in Greece during the
Residence of Pagan Divinities, of the first
order, upon Earth -•••
Chapter II. Of the Terrestial, or Demi-Gods ... 247
Chapter III. Concerning the Music of Heroes
and Heroic Times ... ... ••• •'•• 254
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Page
THE HISTORY OF GREEK Music (Continued)
Chapter IV. Of the State of Music in Greece,
from the time of Homer, till it was subdued
by the Romans, including the Musical
Contests at the Public Games 286
Chapter V. Of Ancient Musical Sects, and
Theories of Sound 342
Chapter VI. Of the Scolia, or Songs, of the
Ancient Greeks 359
THE HISTORY OF THE Music OF THE ROMANS ... 366
A LIST AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES TO BOOK I 383
REFLECTIONS ON THE CONSTRUCTION AND USE OF
SOME PARTICULAR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF
ANTIQUITY 399
BOOK II.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF Music
Chapter I. Of the Introduction of Music into
the Church, and of its progress there
previous to the Time of Guido 409
Chapter II. Of the Invention of Counterpoint,
and State of Music, from the Time of Guido,
to the Formation of the Time-table ... 457
Chapter III. Of the Formation of the Time-
table, and State of Music from that
Discovery till about the middle of the
fourteenth century ... ... 524
Chapter IV. Of the Origin of Modern
Languages, to which written Melody and
Harmony were first applied; and general
state of Music till the Invention of Printing,
about the year 1450 ... 559
Chapter V. Of the State of Music, from the
Invention of Printing till the Middle of the
XVIth Century: including its Cultivation
in the Masses, Motets and Secular Songs of
that Period ... ... 703
TO THE QUEEN
[CHARLOTTE]
MADAM,
THE condescension with which your Majesty has been pleased
to permit your name to stand before the following History, may
justly reconcile the author to his favourite study, and convince
him, that whatever may be said by the professors of severer
wisdom, the hours which he has bestowed upon Music have been
neither dishonourably, nor unprofitably spent.
THE science of musical sounds, though it may have been
depreciated, as appealing only to the ear, and affording nothing
more than a momentary and fugitive delight, may be with justice
considered as the art that unites corporal with intellectual pleasure,
by a species "of enjoyment which gratifies sense, without weakening
reason; and which, therefore, the Great may cultivate without
debasement, and the Good enjoy without depravation.
THOSE who have most diligently contemplated the state of man,
have found it beset with vexations, which can neither be repelled
by splendour, nor eluded by obscurity; to the necessity of combating
these intrusions of discontent, the ministers of pleasure were
indebted for that kind reception, which they have perhaps too
indiscriminately obtained. Pleasure and innocence ought never
to be separated; yet we seldom find them otherwise than at variance,
except when Music brings them together.
To those who know that Music is among your Majesty's
recreations, it is not necessary to display its purity, or assert its
dignity. May it long amuse your leisure, not as a relief from evil,
but as an augmentation of good; not as a diversion from care, but
TO THE QUEEN
as a variation of felicity. Such, Madam, is my sincerest wish,
in which I can, however, boast no peculiarity of reverence or zeal;
for the virtues of your Majesty are universally confessed; and
however the inhabitants of the British empire may differ in their
opinions upon other questions, they afl behold your excellences
with the same eye, and, celebrate them with the same voice; and
to that name which one nation is echoing to another, nothing
can be added by the respectful admiration, and humble gratitude
of,
MADAM,
your Majesty's,
most obedient
and most devoted Servant,
CHARLES BURNEY,
PREFACE
THE feeble beginnings of whatever afterwards becomes great
or eminent, are interesting to mankind. To artists,
therefore, and to real lovers of art, nothing relative to the
object of their employment or pleasure is indifferent.
Sir Francis Bacon recommends histories of art upon the principle
of utility, as well as amusement ; and collecting into one view the
progress of an art seems likely to enlarge the knowledge, and
stimulate the emulation of artists, who may, by this means, be taken
out of the beaten track of habit and common practice, to which
their ideas are usually confined.
The love of lengthened tones and modulated sounds, different
from those of speech, and regulated by a stated measure, seems a
passion implanted in human nature throughout the globe ; for we
hear of no people, however wild and savage in other particulars,
who have not music of some kind or other, with which we may
suppose them to be greatly delighted, by their constant use of it
upon occasions the most opposite : in the temple, and the theatre ;
at funerals, and at weddings ; to give dignity and solemnity to
festivals, and to excite mirth, chearfulness, and activity, in the
frolicsome dance. Music, indeed, like vegetation, flourishes
differently in different climates ; and in proportion to the culture and
encouragement it receives ; yet, to love such music as our ears are
accustomed to, is an instinct so generally subsisting in our nature,
that it appears less wonderful it should have been in the highest
estimation at all times, and in every place, than that it should
hitherto never have had its progressive improvements and
revolutions deduced through a regular history, by any English
writer.
Indeed, though time has spared us a few ancient histories of
empires, republics, and individuals, yet no models of a History,
either of Music, or of any other art or science, are come down
to us, out of the many that antiquity produced. Plutarch's
Dialogue on Music approaches the nearest to history ; but, though it
abounds with particulars relative to the subject, it is so short and
defective, that it rather excites than gratifies curiosity.
Some of the writings of Aristotle and Aristoxenus that are lost,
though they were not express histories of music, would, nevertheless,
had they been preserved, have satisfied our doubts concerning
several parts of ancient music, which are now left to conjecture.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
" Aristotle, the disciple of Plato," says Plutarch, " regarded
melody as something noble, great, and divine." Now, as this
passage is not to be found in the remaining works of Aristotle, it is
imagined that Plutarch took it either from his Treatise on Music
(a), or the second book of his Poetics, where he treated of the Flute
and Cithara, both which works are lost. And yet Kircher,
[1602-80] in his Musurgia (&),* speaking of the ancient writers on
Music, whose works he had consulted among the manuscripts in
the Jesuit's College Library at Rome, names Aristotle;** but I
sought in vain for the Treatise which he had written expressly on
Music, nor could I find there any work by that philosopher relative
to the subject, except his Acoustics (c).
Almost all the ancient philosophers, especially the Pythagoreans,
Platonists, and Peripatetics, wrote treatises on Music, which are
now lost. Meursius, in his notes on Aristoxenus, enumerates,
among others, the following ancient writers on music, of whom we
have nothing left but the name : Agenor, of Mytilene, mentioned
by Aristoxenus (d), from whom sprung a sect of musicians called
Agenorians ; as from Eratocles, the Eratocleans ; from Epigonus,
the Epigonians, and from Damon, who taught Socrates music,
the Damonians (e).
But of all the ancient musical writers, the name of no one is
come down to us, of whose works I was in greater want than those
of the younger Dionysius Halicamassensis, who flourished, .according
to Suidas, under the emperor Adrian, and who wrote twenty-six
books of the History of Musicians, in which he celebrated not only
the great performers on the Flute and Cithara, but those who had
risen to eminence by every species of poetry. He was, likewise,
author of five books, written in defence of Music, and chiefly in
refutation of what is alledged against it in Plato's Republic. Aristides
Quintilianus (/) has, also, endeavoured to soften the severity of
some animadversions against Music in the writings of Cicero (g) J
but though time has spared the defence of this author, yet it does
not indemnify us for the loss of that which Dionysius junior left
behind him ; as testimonies are still remaining of his having been
a much more able writer than Arist. Quintilianus (ft).
But though all the musical histories of the ancients are lost, yet
almost every country ki Europe that has cultivated the polite arts,
has, since the revival of learning, produced a history of Music, ,
except our own, Italy can boast of two works under that title ;
(a) 'YTT«P Movcrwe^. (b) Tom. *. p. 545. (c) Hepi <weov<rwv. (rf) lib. w. pt 36.
(t) The list of Greek writers on the subject of Music, whose works axe lost, amount*, in Fabriciua
to near thirty.
(f)P.69,*tseq. (g) 1» Politic.
(It) Vide FabHrium, Bib. Grac. lib. iii. p. zo.
* The most famous of the many works of this versatile writer is the Mu*wrp* Vnivtrsafa
5nu Ars Ma-gna Consom Et Dissont fa vols., Rome, 1650), which contains much valuable informa-
tion. The second volume deals with Greek music but is untrustworthy in many respects,
** Made many references to music In his writings. These have been collected and published
?7, XP^I808 (^««*»* Smptores Grow, iBgs). Aristotle was bom 384 B.C. and died 32* B.C.,
It is held by some authorities that the Problemata Sect. 19. which is of ten mentioned in this volume
dates from the first or second century A.D. and was probably written at Alexandria.
12
one written in the latter end of the last century by Bontempi (*),
and that of Padre Martini, in this (k). France has likewise two,
one by Bone* $> and one by M. de Blainville (/ft)] and Germany
has not only produced two histories of Music in its own language, by
Caspar Printz (*), ai>4 Hi fearpurg (0) ; but one in Latin, lately
published in two volumes, 4to. by the prince abbot of St. Blasius (p ).
Unluckily, those of P. Martini,* and M. Marpurg, are not yet
finished ; and that of the learned abbot only concerns church music ;
so that though much has been done, much is still left for diligence
to do (f ) ; and however I may respect the learning, and admire the
industry and abilities of some of these writers, yet I saw the wants
of English musical readers through such a different medium, that
I have seldom imitated their arrangements, and never servilely
copied their opinions. pJiftffed materials lie open to us all ; and
as I spared no expense or pains either in acquiring or consulting
'them, the merely citing the same passages from them, cannot convict
me of plagiarism. With respect likewise to manuscript information,
and inedited materials from foreign countries, few modem writers
have perhaps expended more money and time, undergone greater
fatigue, or more impaired their health in the search of them, than
myself.
And /«t; though all will readily allow, in general, that perfection
is not to be expected in the works of man; it is evident that, in
particular cases, little tenderness is shewn to imperfection in the
most difficult and laborious undertakings.
If I might presume to hope,, however, for any unusual indulgence
from the public with respect to this work, it must be from the
peculiarity of my circumstances during the time it was in hand;
for it may with the utmost truth be said, that it was composed
in moments stolen from sleep, from reflection, and from an occupa-
tion which required all my attention, during more than twelve
ours a day, for a great part of the year.
(*) Historia Musica. In Perugia, fol. 1695.
(*) Storia detta Musica, 4to. In Bologna, x757, and 1770, and [1781].
(I) ffistoire de la Musique, et de ses Effets. z Tom. xamo. Par. 17x5, and Amst. 1726.
(m) Histoire generate, critique et philologique de la Musique. a Paris. 1767.
(n) ftitftoriffcfjc Eescfjreitafl tor Efcleit &mfl«tmfc IftUngfainflt, in |to> gcftrufct, ju
h
.1690.
' (o) Ifctitfoclje einWtunjj in Hi* ffiwcfjfcljte utrt fUforjmCjt U« altm tin* twutti
^to. -Berlin. 1759.
(p) De Cantu et Musica Sacra a prima Ecclesia eetate usque ad presens tempus. Typis San.
•Blasianis. 1774.
(a) The history of Music by M. Bonet is written upon a very narrow plan j for the second volume
contains nothing more than exclusive eulogiums of Luffi, and illiberal censures of every species of
Italian music. And though the work of M. de Blainville is nominally a General History of Music, yet,
notwithstanding the splendid promises in the title, the whole historical, critical, and (philological parts
of this work, are comprised inless than half a thin quarto ; therestof the volume being fifled with a
treatise on composition. The Musical Dictionary of M. Rousseau, without promising any thing more
than an explanation of terms peculiar to the theory and practice of Music, affords not only more
amusementrbut more historical information relative to the art, than perhaps any book of the size that
is extant.
* An important figure in the musical life of the eighteenth century. He was bom at Bologna
in i7o6 and died in 1784.. Apart from his compositions he was a prolific writer on musical matters.
The third volume of his history was published in 1781 and this proved to be the last, as he died before
he could complete the fourth. Martini had an enormous library which Burney estimated to contain
about 17,000 volumes.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
If it be asked, why I entered on so arduous a task, knowing
the disadvantages I must labour under, my answer is, that it was
neither with a view to rival others, nor to expose the defects of
former attempts, but merely to fill up, as well as I was able, a
chasm in English literature. I knew that a history of Music was
wanted by my countrymen, and was utterly ignorant that any one
else had undertaken to supply it; yet, to confess the truth, I did,
at first imagine, though I have been long convinced of my mistake,
that, with many years practice and experience in musical matters,
some reading, and the possession of a great number of books on
the subject, I should have been able to compile such a history as
was wanted, at my leisure hours, without great labour or expence.
But, after I had embarked, the further I sailed, the greater
seemed my distance from the port: doubts of my own abilities,
and respect for the public, abated my confidence; my ideas of
what would be required at my "hands were enlarged beyond my
powers of fulfilling them, especially in the narrow limits of two
volumes, and in the little time I had allowed myself, which was
made still less by sickness.
A work like this, in which it is necessary to give authorities for
every fact that is asserted, advances infinitely slower, with all the
diligence that can be bestowed upon it, than one of mere imagina-
tion, or one consisting of recent circumstances, within the
knowledge and memory of the writer. The difference in point
of time and labour is as great as in building a house with scarce
materials produced in remote regions of the world, or with bricks
made upon the spot, and timber from a neighbouring wood; and
I have frequently spent more time in ascertaining a date, or seeking
a short, and, in itself, a trivial passage, than would have been
requisite to fill many pages with conjecture and declamation.
However, after reading, or at least consulting, an almost
innumerable quantity of old and scarce books on the subject, of
which the duiness and pedantry were almost petrific, and among
which, where I hoped to find the most information, I found but
little, and where I expected but little, I was seldom disappointed;
at length, wearied and disgusted at the small success of my
researches, I shut my books, and began to examine myself as to
my musical principles; hoping that the good I had met with in
the course of my reading was by this time digested, and incorporated
in my own ideas; and that the many years I had spent in practice,
theory, and meditation, might entitle me to some freedom of
thought, unshackled by the trammels of authority.
Concerning the music of the Greeks and Romans, about which
the learned talk so much, it is impossible to speak with certainty;
however, the chief part of what I have to say with respect to its
theory and practice, is thrown into a Preliminary Dissertation, in
order that the narrative might not be interrupted by discussions
-concerning dark and disputable points, which will be generally
uninteresting even to musical readers; and in which it is very
PREFACE
doubtful, whether I shall be able either to amuse or satisfy the
learned.
It is, indeed, with great and almost hopeless diffidence, that I
enter upon this part of my work; as I can hardly animate myself
with the expectation of succeeding in enquiries which have foiled
the most learned men of the two or three last centuries. But
it has been remarked by Tartini, in speaking of ancient music,
that doubt, difficulty, and obscurity, should not be imputed to
the author, but to the subject, since they are in its very essence :
for what, besides conjecture, is now left us, concerning things so
transient as sound, and so evanescent as taste?
The land of conjecture, however, is so extensive and unappro-
priated, that every new cultivator has a right to break up fresh
ground, or to seize upon any spot that has long lain fallow, without
the sanction of a grant from anyone who may arrogate to
himself the sovereignty of the whole, or of any neglected part of
it. But though no one has an exclusive right to these imaginary
regions, yet the public has a just power of censuring the methods
of improvement adopted by any new inhabitant, and of condemn-
ing such productions as may be deemed unfit for use.
The opinions of mankind seldom agree, concerning the most
common and obvious things; and consequently will be still less
likely to coincide about others, that are reducible to no standard
of truth or excellence, but are subject to the lawless controul of
every individual who shall think fit to condemn them, either with,
or without understanding them.
Dr. Johnson has well said, that " those who think they have
done much, see but little to do;" and with respect to ancient
music, I believe those who have taken the greatest pains to
investigate the subject, are least satisfied with the success of their
labours.
What the ancient music really was, it is not easy to determine;
the whole is now become a matter of faith; but of this we are
certain, that it was something with which mankind was extremely
delighted: for not only the poets, but the historians and
philosophers of the best ages of Greece and Rome, are as diffuse
in its praises, as of those arts concerning which sufficient remains
are come down to us, to evince the truth of their panegyrics. And
so great was the sensibility of the ancient Greeks, and so accentuated
and refined their language, that they seem to have been, in both
respects, to the rest of the world, what the modern Italians are at
present; for of these last, the language itself is music, and their
ears are so polished and accustomed to sweet sounds, that they
are rendered fastidious judges of melody, both by habit and
education.
But as to the superior or inferior degree of excellence in the
ancient music, compared with the modern, it is now as impossible
tc determine, as it is to hear both sides.
15
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Indeed it is so entirely lost, that the study of it is become as
unprofitable as learning a dead language, in which there are no
books ; and yet this study has given rise to so much pedantry, and
to such an ambition in modern musical authors, to be thought
well versed in the writings of the ancients upon music, that their
treatises are rendered both disgusting and unintelligible by it.
Words only are come down to us without things. We have so few
remains of ancient Music by which to illustrate its rules, that we
cannot, as in Painting, Poetry, Sculpture, or Architecture, judge of
it, or profit by examples ; and to several of these terms which are
crammed into our books, we are utterly unable to affix any precise
or useful meaning. To write, therefore, in favour of ancient music
now, is like the emperor Julian's defending paganism, when
mankind had given it up as indefensible, and had attached
themselves to another religion.
However, it is, perhaps, a fortunate circumstance for modern
music that the ancient is lost, as it might not have suited the
genius of our language, and might have tied us down to precedent ;
as the writers of modem Latin never dare hazard a single thought
or expression without classical authority.
The subject itself of ancient music is so dark, and writers
concerning it are so discordant in their opinions, that every
intelligent reader who finds how little there is to be known, has
reason to lament that there still remains so much to be said. Indeed,
I should have been glad to have waived all discussion about it : for,
to say the truth, the study of ancient music is now become the
business of an Antiquary more than of a Musician, But in every
history of music extant, in other languages, the practice had been
so constant for the author to make a display of what he knew, and
what he did not know concerning ancient music, that it seemed
absolutely necessary for me to say something about it, if it were
only to prove, that if I have not been more successful in my enquiries
than my predecessors, I have not been less diligent* And it
appeared likewise necessary, before I attempted a history of ancient
Greek music, to endeavour to investigate its properties, or at least
to tell the little I knew of it, and ingenuously to confess my ignorance
and doubts about the rest.
Indeed it was once my intention to begin my history with the
invention of the present musical scale and counterpoint ; for
" What can we reason, but from what we know? "
But it was impossible to read a great number of books upon the
subject, without meeting with conjectures, and it was not easy to
peruse these, without forming others of my own. If those which
I have hazarded should throw any light upon the subject, it will
enable my readers to travel through the dark maze of enquiry
with more facility, and consequently less disgust ; and if I fail in
my researches, and leave both the subject and them where I found
them, as the expectation which I encourage is but small, so it is
hoped will be their disappointment. For with respect to all I
16
PREFACE
have to say, I must confess that the Spanish motto, adopted by
Francis ie Vayer, is wholly applicable.
De las cosas mas seguras
La mas seguras es dudar (r).
In wading through innumerable volumes, with promising titles,
and submitting to the drudgery of all such reading as was never
read, I frequently found that those who were most diffuse upon the
subject, knew least of the matter ; and that technical jargon, and
unintelligible pedantry so loaded each page, that not an eligible
thought could be found, in exploring thousands of them. Indeed
my researches were sometimes so unsuccessful, that I seemed to
resemble a wretch in the street, raking the kennels for an old rusty
nail. However, the ardour of enquiry was now and then revived by
congenial ideas, and by gleams of light emitted from penetration and
intelligence ; and these will be gratefully acknowledged, whenever
they afford assistance.
There are already more profound books on the subject of ancient,
as well as modem Music, than have ever been read ; it was time to
try to treat it in such a manner as was likely to engage the attention
of those that are unable, or unwilling, to read treatises written, for
the most part, by persons who were more ambitious of appearing
learned themselves, than of making others so. Indeed, I have long
since found it necessary to read with caution the splendid assertions
of writers concerning music, tiU I was convinced of their knowledge
of the subject ; for I have frequently detected ancients as well as
moderns, whose fame sets them almost above censure, of utter
ignorance in this particular, while they have thought it necessary
to talk about it. Apuleius, Pausanias, and Athenaeus, among the
ancients, were certainly musicians ; but it is not so evident that
Cicero, Horace, and others, who have interspersed many passages
concerning Music in their works, understood the subject any more
than our Addison, Pope, and Swift. Among these, the two first
have written odes on St. Cecilia's day, in which they manifest the
entire separation of Music and Poetry, and shew the possibility of
writing well on what is neither felt nor understood. For Pope, who
received not the least pleasure from Music himself, by the help of his
friends, was enabled to describe its power with all the rapture and
sublimity of a great genius, music-mad. This appears not only in
his Ode of St. Cecilia, but in speaking of Handel, in the Dunciad.
Music and its admirers were ever contemned by him and Swift ;
but, having neither taste nor judgment in this art, they were surely
unqualified to censure it. Few conquerors ever aimed at universal
monarchy, compared with the number of authors who have wished
to be thought possessed of universal knowledge ; and yet these great
writers, who discover, in what is within their competence, a vigour
of mind, and elevation of genius, which inclines mankind to regard
them as beings of a superior order, whenever they hope by the power
(r) The most secure of all secure things, is to doubt.
Voi,. i. 2 17
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
of thinking to supply the place of knowledge, discover an imbecillity ,
which degrades them into common characters.
I will not, however, over-rate musical sensations so far as to
say, with the poet, that the man who cannot enjoy them " is fit for
treasons, stratagems, and spoils " ; there being, perhaps, among
mankind, as many persons of bad hearts that are possessed of a
love and genius for music, as there are of good, that have neither
talents nor feeling for it : but I will venture to say, that it has been
admired and cultivated by great and eminent persons at all times
and in every country, where arts have been cherished ; and though
there may be no particular connection between correctness of ear,
and rectitude of mind, yet, without the least hyperbole it may be
said, that, cceteris paribus, the man who is capable of being affected
by sweet sounds, is a being more perfectly organized, than he who
is insensible to, or offended by them.
But, as the Constable in Much ado about Nothing says, " these
are gifts which God gives/' and lovers of music should be content
with their own superior happiness, and not take offence at others
for enjoying less pleasure than themselves. However, it is no
uncommon thing for the rich to treat the poor with as much insolence,
as if it were a crime not to be born to a great estate; yet, on the
other hand, to be proud of beggary and want, is too ridiculous for
censure.
With respect to the present work, there may, perhaps, be many
readers who wish and expect to find in it a deep and well digested
treatise on the theory and practice of music: whilst others, less
eager after such information, wifl be seeking for mere amusement
in the narrative. I wish it had been in my plan and power fully
to satisfy either party; but a history is neither a body of laws,
nor a novel. I have blended together theory and practice, facts
and explanations, incidents, causes, consequences, conjectures, and
confessions of ignorance, just as the subject produced them. Many
new materials concerning the art of Music in the remote times of
which this volume treats, can hardly be expected. The collecting
into one point the most interesting circumstances relative to its
practice and professors; its connection with religion; with war;
with the stage ; with public festivals, and private amusements,
have principally employed me: and as the historian of a great
and powerful empire marks its limits and resources; its acquisitions
and losses; its enemies and allies; I have endeavoured to point
out the boundaries of music, and its influence on our passions;
its early subservience to poetry, its setting up a separate interest,
and afterwards aiming at independence; the heroes who have
fought its battles, and the victories they have obtained.
If the titles of my chapters should appear too general and
miscellaneous, and the divisions and sections of my work too few;
if method and minute exactness in the distribution of its several
subjects and parts should seem wanting; the whole is, perhaps,
the more likely to be read for these deficiences; for a history, of
18
PREFACE
which the contents are symmetrically digested, separated by
chapters, and sub-divided into sections, may be easily consulted,
but is no more likely to be read throughout, than a dictionary.
My subject has been so often deformed by unskilful writers, that
many readers, even among those who love and understand music,
are afraid of it. My wish, therefore, is not to be approached
with awe and reverence for my depth and erudition, but to bring
on a familiar acquaintance with them, by talking in common
language of what has hitherto worn the face of gloom and mystery,
and been too much " sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought;"
and though the mixing biographical anecdotes, in order to engage
attention, may by some be condemned, as below the dignity of
science, yet I would rather be pronounced trivial than tiresome;
for Music being, at best, but an amusement, its history merits
not, in reading, the labour of intense application, which should be
reserved for more grave and Important concerns.
I have never, from a vain display of erudition, loaded my page
with Greek; on the contrary, unless some disputable point seemed
to render it necessary, or the passage was both remarkable and
short, I have industriously avoided it, by referring my learned
readers to the original text. The modesty of citation may, however,
be carried to excess; for quotations of remarkable passages are
very amusing and satisfactory to learned readers, and often prevent
suspicions of misrepresentation. There is no pedantry in a margin;
and the ancients are perhaps never so entertaining as in the
fragment way of quotation. As I pretend not to such a profound
and critical knowledge in the Greek language as to depend entirely
upon myself, in obscure and contested passages, I have, when
such occurred, generally had recourse to the labours of the best
translators and commentators, or the counsel of a learned friend.
And here, in order to satisfy the sentiments of friendship, as well
as those of gratitude, I must publicly acknowledge my obligations
to the zeal, intelligence, taste, and erudition of the reverend Mr.
Twining ; a gentleman whose least merit is being perfectly
acquainted with every branch of theoretical and practical music.
As ancient Greek Music had its technical terms, as well as the
modern Italian, with which many excellent scholars and translators
from that language, for want of an acquaintance with Music, and
Greek musical writers, have been utter strangers, I may venture
to observe that I have tried, and I hope not always without
success, to trace these terms in ancient authors, in order to discover
their original acceptation.
It would be a false, and perhaps offensive modesty, if I were
here to trouble the reader with apologies for the length and
frequency of quotations from the Iliad and Odyssey, and other
ancient poets besides Homer; as it will be shewn, that history has
no other materials to work upon in times of high antiquity, than
those poems, T$ji?k fraye always been regarded as historical; prose
19
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
compositions having been utterly unknown in Greece for 300 years
after most of them were written (s).
I have never had recourse to conjecture, when facts were to be
found. In the historical and biographical parts, I have asserted
nothing without vouchers; and I have made the ancients tell their
own story as often as was possible, without disputing with them
the knowledge of their own history, as many moderns have done;
for I cannot help supposing them to have been full as well
acquainted with their own affairs 2,000 years ago, as we are at
present. An ancient Greek might, with almost equal propriety,
have pretended to foretell what we should bef at the distance of
2,000 years, as we determine now what they then were.
Indeed it was my intention, when I first entered upon this
work, to trace the genealogy of Music in a right line, without either
meddling with the collateral branches of the family, or violating
the reverence of antiquity. I wished and determined to proportion
my labour to my powers, and I was unawares seduced into a
course of reading and conjecture, upon matters beyond the reach
of human ken, by the chief subject of my enquiries being so
extensively diffused through all the regions of literature, and
all the ages of the world. I found ancient Music so intimately
connected with Poetry, Mythology, Government, Manners, and
Science in general, that wholly to separate it from them, seemed
to me like talcing a single figure out of a group, in an historical
picture; or a single character out of a drama, of which the propriety
depends upon the dialogue and the incidents. If, therefore, a
number of figures appear in the back-ground, I hope they will give
relief, and somewhat keep off the dryness and fatigue which a
single subject in a long work, or a single figure, if often repeated,
though in different points of view, is apt to produce.
(5) Cadmus Milesius. whom antiquity allowed to have been the inventor of history in prose,
flourished, according to Sir Isaac Newton, 550 years B.C. and Herodotus, the oldest Greeic historian
whose writings are preserved, died 484 years before the same sera'.
DEFINITIONS
Ancient writers upon science usually began with definitions ;
and as it is possible that this work may fall into the hands of persons
wholly unacquainted with the elements of Music, a few preliminary
explanations of such difficulties as are most likely to occur to them,
may somewhat facilitate the perusal of the technical parts of my
enquiries.
Music is an innocent luxury, unnecessary, indeed, to our
existence, but a great improvement and gratification of the sense of
hearing. It consists, at present, of Melody, Time, Consonance, and
Dissonance.
By Melody is implied a series of sounds more fixed, and generally
more lengthened, than those of common speech; arranged with
grace, and, with respect to Time, of proportional lengths, such as
the mind can easily measure, and the voice express. These so^mds
are regulated by a scale, consisting of tones and semitones; but
admit a variety of arrangement as unbounded as imagination.
Consonance is derived from a coincidence of two or more sounds,
which being heard together, by their agreement and union, afford
to ears capable of judging and feeling, a delight of a most grateful
kind. The combination and succession of Concords or Sounds in
Consonance, constitute Harmony; as the selection and texture of
Single Sounds produce Melody.
Dissonance is the want of that agreeable union between two or
more sounds, which constitutes Consonance: in musical composition
it is occasioned by the suspension or^ anticipation of some sound
before, or after, it becomes a Concord. It is the Dolce piccante of
Music, and operates on the ear as a poignant sauce on the palate;
it is a zest, without which the auditory sense would be as much
cloyed as the appetite, if it had nothing to feed on but sweets.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Of musical tones the most grateful to the ear are such as are
produced by the vocal organ. And, next to singing, the most
pleasing kinds are those which approach the nearest to vocal ; such
as can be sustained, swelled, and diminished, at pleasure. Of these,
the first in rank are such as the most excellent performers produce
from the Violin, Flute, and Hautbois. If it were to be asked what
instrument is capable of affording the greatest effects? I should
answer, the Organ ; which can not only imitate a number of other
instruments, but is so comprehensive as to possess the power of a
numerous orchestra. It ist however, very remote from perfection,
as it wants expression, and a more perfect intonation.
With respect to excellence of Style and Composition, it may
perhaps be said that to practised ears the most pleasing Music is such
as has the merit of novelty, added to refinement, and ingenious
contrivance ; and to the ignorant, such as is most familiar and
common.
Other terms used in Modern Music, as well as those peculiar to
the Ancient, are generally defined, the first time they occur, in
the course of the work.
22
DISSERTATION
ON THE MUSIC OF
THE ANCIENTS
Section I
Of the Notation or Tdblature of Ancient
Music, including its Scales, Intervals,
Systems and Diagrams
THE music of the ancients, according to Euclid, Alypius,* and
Martianus Capella,** was divided into seven constituent
parts : these were Sounds, Intervals , Systems^, Genera, Modes,
Mutations, and Melop&ia, or the composition of melody. To these
divisions, which comprehended only what was denominated
Harmonics, or the Science of Music, strictly so called, were added
five other requisites, no less essential for a musician to know, than
the preceding seven: and these were, Rhythm, or the regulation
of cadences in all kinds of movement; Metre, or the measure of
verses ; Organic, or the instrumental art ; Hypocritic, or gesture ;
and Poetic, or the composition of verses. And still to these divisions,
Aristides Quintilianus, and some other musical writers, add Odicuwi,
or the Art of Singing; which, indeed, seems of more importance to
Music, than either the Organic or Hypocritic art. In order to
communicate to, my readers all the information I am able, upon
so dark and difficult a subject, I shall consider the music of the
ancient Greeks under such heads only as absolutely concern Music,
according to our acceptation of the word ; for it is plain that several
* Probably flourished about 300 B.C. at Alexandria* His Introduction to Music which was
reprinted by Meibomius in 1652 contains very valuable information on the subject of Greek musical
notation. It is, however, only a part of the original work, the remainder having been lost.
** Born at Carthage, probably in the fifth century A.D. He wrote a work in nine volumes,
of which the seventh contains an essay on music. Kopp, of Frankfort, published the text in 2836.
33
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
of its ancient divisions more immediately belonged to Poetry.
Indeed these two arts were at first so intimately connected, and so
dependant on each other, that rules for poetry were, in general,
rules for music; and the properties and effects of both were so much
confounded together, that it is extremely difficult to disentangle
them.
Leaving therefore, for the present, all other distinctions,
divisions, and subdivisions, with which ancient musical treatises
abound, I shall proceed to fulfil the title of this section.
In the study of Modern Music, the first objects of enquiry are
the names by which the several sounds in the scale are expressed ;
and, if we regard music as a language, the Scale or Gammut may
be called its Alphabet.
Plutarch says, that it is not sufficient for a musician to know
what kind of music should be set to any particular poem ; he should
likewise know how to write it down in all the Genera (6), that is to
say, in the Diatonic or natural scale, consisting of tones and
semitones as at present ; in the Chromatic, in which the scale was
divided into semitones, and minor thirds ; and in the Enharmonic
genus, moving by quarter tones, and major thirds, as will be
explained hereafter.
It does not appear from history, that the Egyptians, Phoenicians..
Hebrews, or any ancient people, who cultivated the arts, except
the Greeks and Romans, had musical characters; and these had no
other symbols of sound than the letters of their alphabet, which
likewise served them for arithmetical numbers and chronological
dates.
As the notation of the Greeks was imagined in the infancy of
the art of music, when the flute had but few holes, and the lyre but
few strings, the simplicity of expressing the octave of any sound
by the same sign, as in modern music, was not thought of; the
most ancient and constant boundary of musical tones having been
the Diatesseron, or fourth, the extremes of which interval were
fixed, though the intermediate sounds were mutable : and in the
manner of tuning these consisted the difference of intervals in the
several genera (c).
The Greek scale, in the time of Aristoxenus, the oldest writer
upon music, whose works are come down to us (d), extended to two
octaves, and was called Systema perfectumf maximum immutatum;
the great, the perfect, the immutable system; because its extremities
formed a perfect consonance, including all the simple, double,
direct, and inverted concords, with all the particular systems; and
it was the opinion of the ancients that this disdiapason, or double
octave, was the greatest interval which could be received in melody.
This whole system was composed of five tetrachords, or
different series of four sounds, and one note added at the bottom of
the scale to complete the double octave; whence the string which pro-
(b) De Musica. (c) See Sect. II.
(4) He flourished three hundred and forty years before Christ.
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
duced this sound was called aQooAapfiavopevos, Proslambanomenos,
or note subjoined to the scale ; for though this was constantly the
lowest sound in all the modes, it was not included in the
tetrachords (0).
All these sounds had different denominations in the system, like
our Gammut, A re, B mi, C fa ut, &c., besides two different
characters, one vocal, and the other instrumental, appropriated to
each sound in the several modes and genera, for the purpose of
writing down melodies.
That the fourth was a favourite and important interval in the
music of the ancients, is plain from the great system of two octaves
having been composed of five of these tetrachords, in the same
manner as the scale of Guido is of different hexachords.
The first tetrachord is called by the Greek musicians Hypaton,
or principal; the sounds of which are denominated:
1 . Hypate hypaton, principal of principals;
2. Parypate hypaton, next the principal;
3. Lichanos hypaton, or index of principals ; from its having
been played with the index or fore-finger. This third sound of the
first tetrachord in the Diatonic genus, was likewise called Hypaton
Diatonos.
4. Hypate meson, or principal of the middle or mean
tetrachord ; for this sound not only served as the last or highest
note of the first tetrachord, but as the first or lowest of the second;
whence these two tetrachords were called conjoint, or connected.
These four denominations of the sounds in the first tetrachord may
be compared with the terms B mi, C fa ut, D sol re, and E la mi,
in the Guido scale ; or with the sounds
The sounds of the Meson, or middle tetrachord, were placed in
the following order:
Hypate Meson, or principal of the mean tetrachord ;
Parypate Meson, next to the middle principal;
Lichanos Meson;
Mese, or middle, as this sound completes the second tetrachord,
and is the centre of the whole system. The sounds of this tetrachord
correspond with those which in the base of the scale of Guido, are
called E la mi, F fa ut, G sol re ut, and A la mi re, which are
equivalent to
The Mese in ancient music was of equal importance with the
key note in modern music: being an octave above ^the
Proslambanomenos, which was the lowest sound of the ancient
modes, and a kind of key note to them all.
(e) How this great system, from three 01 jour sounds only, was extended to a double octave, and
by>rhom, will be related in the course of the history.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Euclid calls Mese the sound by which all other sounds are
regulated. And Aristotle, in his XXXVIth problem, sect. 19, says
that all the tones of a scale are accommodated, or tuned, to the
Mese. The same author likewise tells us, problem XX. that all
melody, whether it moves above or below the Mese, has a natural
tendency to that sound.
The third tetrachord,* beginning by the last note of the second,
was thence called Synemmenon, the united, or conjunct tetrachord;
the sounds of which proceed in the following order:
Mese ;
Trite Synemmenon, or third string of this tetrachord from the
top ;
Paranete Synemmenon, penultima of this tetrachord ;
Nete Synemmenon, last of the Synemmenon tetrachord ; the
four sounds of which correspond with those in the centre of our
gammut, that are called A la mi re, B fa, C sol fa ut, and D la sol re,
The fourth tetrachord, ascending, is called Diezeugmenon,
disjunct, or separated, as it begins at B natural, which is not a note
in common with any one in the other tetrachords. But though this
system of four sounds is only an octave higher than that of tile first
tetrachord, and though the next is but a replicate of the second, I
shall present them to the reader, as the several sounds of which they
are composed have in the Greek music different denominations.
The first sound of the second octave, or series of eight sounds in
the ancient great system, is Mese, and the first of the fourth
tetrachord begins with the note.
Paramese, near the Mese, or middle sound ; the next is called
Trite Diezeugmenon, or third string of this tetrachord from the
top : then follows the Paranete Diezeugmenon ; and lastly, the
/) After ascending regularly thus far, up to D, by three conjoint tetrachords, the fourth tetra-
chord in the great system is begun by descending a minor third to B natural, the octave above the first
sound of the lowest tetrachord. Something of this dodging kind is to be found in the scale of Guide,
divided into hexachords : tor, after ascending six notes regularly in the durum hexachord, it is necessary
to descend a major third, if we would begin the natural hexachord ; and when the natural hexachord fe
completed, if we would begin at the Molle, it can only be done by a leap of a third below. This will best
appear by an example in notes :
Durum Hexachord Natural Hexachord Molle Hexachord
Ut ie mi ta sol la. Ut re mi fa sol la. Ut re mi fa sol la.
It appears from the Greek tetrachords, as well as from this example, that neither the ancients nor
the early modems admitted the sharp seventh of a key into their scales.
* The system of tetrachords described by Burney was known as the " Perfect Immutable
System," and is the combination of the " Greater Perfect " and the " Lesser Perfect " systems.
The Greater System consisted of the four tetrachords, Hypaton, Meson, Diezeugmenon and Hyper i
bolaion, in which the Meson and Diezeugmenon' tetracnords were disjunct. The Lesser System
comprised the three tetrachords, Hypaton, Meson and Synemmenon ; the Meson and Synemmenon
tetrachords being conjunct. As the mterva Jbetween the two lowest notes of a tetrachord had to be
a semitone, the second note of Tetrachordon Synemmenon (Trite Synemmenon) had to be flattened*
26
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
Nete Diezeugmenon, or final soun.d of this tetrachord, which
includes the sounds B mi, C sol fa ut, D la sol re, and E la mi, in
the middle of the Guido scale, or
The last sound of the fourth tetrachord is the first of the fifth,
which is called the Hyperbolceon, or supreme tetrachord ; the
sounds of which ascend in the following order:
Nete Diezeugmenon, last of the diezeugmenon tetrachord;
Trite Hyperbolceon, third string of the hyperbolseon tetrachord ;
Paranete Hyperbolceon, penultima of the supreme tetrachord;
Nete Hyperbolceon, last of the supreme, or highest tetrachord,
and of the great system, or diagram.
This last tetrachord being added to the scale long after its first
formation, was called Hyperbolceon, from its sounds being more
acute than the rest, and beyond the common bounds of the scale ;
in the same manner, as, with us, the notes above D in the treble are
said to be in alt. This tetrachord includes the sounds E la mi, F fa
ut, G sol re ut, and A la mi re, or
Iff an
The ancients used likewise four different monosyllables ending
with different vowels, by way of solmisation, for the exercise of
the voice in singing; like our mi, fa, sol, la. These were, for the
first note of each tetrachord, ra, for the second rf, for the third r5>
and for the fourth, if it .did not serve as the first of the adjoining and
relative tetrachord, rl ; but if it began a new tetrachord, it was called
by the first name, ra.
The repetition of these monosyllables is a further proof that the
fourth in the ancient music served as a boundary to a system of
four sounds, in the same manner as a hexachord did in the Guido
scale, and as an octave does for eight sounds in the more modern
practice.
Any interval between the terms of which one or more sounds
intervened, was by the ancients called a System : EG, for example,
constituted a system of a third minor ; EA, of a fourth ; EB, of a
fifth, &c.
These smaller systems were of different species ; thus there were
three kinds of tetrachords, that differed in melody by the position of
the semitone, which was sometimes at the beginning, sometimes at
the end, and sometimes in the middle : as in the following example,
where the black notes are semitones, an.d the white, tones.**
-e-tt-gr
* The tetrachords and scales formedjfrom them were considered as descending sequences of
notes, but the idea of a tonic or final as we understand it was probably introduced at a much later date
Tetrachord, Similar variations were
37
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
As the Greeks used all the four and twenty letters of their
alphabet for musical characters, or symbols of sound ; and as their
most extensive system or scale did not exceed two octaves, or fifteen
sounds, it should seem as if their simple alphabet was more than
sufficient to express them ; for their music being at first only a
notation of their poetry, the rhythm, or air, must have been
determined by the metre of the verses, without the assistance of
signs of proportion peculiar to music. But supposing it was necessary
for them to have different characters to express the different feet
of the verse, it is certain that vocal music was in no want of them;
and instrumental being chiefly vocal music played by instruments,
had likewise no need of them, when the words were written, or the
player knew them by heart.
However, in order to multiply these characters, the letters of
their alphabet were sometimes written in capitals, and sometimes
small ; some were entire, some mutilated, some doubled, and some
lengthened ; and besides these distinctions in the form of the letters,
they had others of situation, sometimes turning them to the right,
sometimes to the left ; sometimes inverting, and sometimes placing
them horizontally ; for instance, the letter Gamma, by these
expedients, served to express seven different sounds : F L 1 H H
M- |j. Some of the letters were also barred, or accented, in order
to change their symbolical import; and these still not sufficing, they
made the common grave and acute accents serve as specific musical
notes.
It is a matter that has been long disputed among the learned,
whether Accents were originally Musical Characters, or marks of
Prosody. It is in vain to set about determining a question
concerning which the proofs on both sides are so numerous (g). But
as music had characters different from accents so early as the time
of Terpander, to whom the invention is given by the Oxford Marbles,*
which place this event about six hundred and seventy years before
(g) See Gaily and Spelman against accents, and Primatt and Forsterin defence of tliem. Mr. West
is firmly of opinion *' that accents were originally imtsical notes, set over words to direct the several
tones and inflexions of the voice, requisite to give the whole sentence its proper harmony and cadence."
Find. vol. ii. And the abb6 du Bos, who frequently by a peremptory decision cuts the knot of such
difficulties as he is unable to untie, asserts, without sufficient proof, that as poets originally set their
own verses, they placed for this purpose a figure, or accent, over each syllable. So that, according to
this writer, we are at present, not only in possession of the poetry of Homer, Pindar, Anacreon, and
Sappho, but their music.— Why then do we complain of the total loss of Greek music ? See Reflex.
Critique, c. iii. p. 85.
* A collection of works of art made by Thomas Howard, the second Earl of Arundel (c. 1585-
1646). The marbles and a considerable number of statues were donated to Oxford University in 1667
and are usually known as the Arundel Marbles. One of the chief items of the collection is the famous
Parian Chronicle, a marble slab said to have been carved about 263 B.C. in the island of Paros. The
slab records events in Greek history from 1582 B.C. to 354 B.C.
The following extract from Evelyn's Diary (Sept. 19, 1667} is of interest :— " To London,
with Mr. Henry Howard, of Norfolk, of whom I obtained the gift of his Arunddian Marbles,
those celebrated and famous inscriptions Greek and Latin, gathered with so much cost and
industry from Greece, by his illustrious grandfather, the magnificent Earl of Arundel, my noble
friend whilst he lived. When I saw these precious monuments miserably neglected, and scattered
up and down about the garden, and other parts of Arundel House, and how exceedingly the
corrosive air of London impaired them, I procured him to bestow them on the University of
Oxford. This he was pleased to grant me; and gave me the key of the gallery, with leave to
mark all those stones, urns, altars, &c., and whatever I found had inscriptions on them, that
were not statues. This I did; and getting them removed and piled together, with those which
were encrusted in the garden walls, I sent immediately letters to the Vice-Chancellor of what
I had procured, and that if they esteemed it a service to the University (of which I had been
a member), they should take order for their transportation."
28
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
Christ ; and as accents for prosody are likewise proved to be of
high antiquity, it seems as if there could have been no necessity
for the ancients to use one for the other.
But it has already been remarked that the letters of the alphabet,
though turned, distorted, and mutilated, so many different ways,
were insufficient to express the sounds of all the modes in the three
genera ; so that recourse was had to accents, as the scale became
more^ extended, in order to augment the number of characters. And
Alypius, in the enumeration of the notes in the enharmonic genus,
tells us, that Trite Synemmenon is represented by Beta and the
acute accent ; and Paranete Synemmenon enarmonios by Alpha,
and the grave accent (h).
This is a proof that the accents were known at the time of
Alypius, and were then used chiefly for prosody, not music, for
which they were only called in occasionally. Indeed they are
mentioned as accentual marks by writers of much higher antiquity
than Alypius ; for not only Cicero and Plutarch, but Aristotle and
Plato, speak of them as merely regarding the elevation and
depression of the voice in speech. However, in the early Greek and
Roman missals, as will be shewn hereafter, the musical characters
used in Canto Fermo, seem to have been only lengthened accents.
These various modifications of letters and accents in the Greek
notation composed in all one hundred and twenty different
characters, which were still considerably multiplied in practice ; for
each of these characters serving many purposes in the vocal as well
as instrumental tablature or gammut, and being changed and
varied according to the different modes 'and genera, as the names
of our notes are changed by different clefs and keys, the one
hundred and twenty Greek characters produced one thousand six
hundred and twenty notes (t) !
Two rows of these characters were usually placed over the words
of a lyric poem ; the upper row serving for the voice, and the lower
for instruments.
If we had not the testimony of aH the Greek writers who have
mentioned these characters, for their use and destination, it would
be natural to suppose that the double row of different letters placed
over each other, and above the words of a poem, were intended to
express different parts, with respect to harmony ; as with us, in
modern music, the treble notes are written over the base, and the
first treble over the second ; but Alypius, who is extremely minute
in his instructions concerning the use of these characters, in all
these modes, tells us, in express terms, that the upper line of the
(h) Bijra KOA o£eta, B' : — a\<£a *ai jSapeta, A\ Alyp. Edit. Meibom, p. 56.
(*) Not contented with using all the letters of the alphabet, in every possible situation, as symbols
of sound, the Greeks mutilated and distorted them io order to augment their number ; just as the
ancient JEgyptians,in their animal idolatry and religious ceremonies, " besides the adoration of almost
every thing existing, worshipped a thousand chimeras of their own creation, some with human bodies,
and- the head or feet of beasts : others with brutal bodies, and the head or feet of men ; while others
again were a fantasticaTcompound of fthe severaTparts of beasts, birds, and reptiles, terrestrial and
aquatic." Div, keg . vok W- P» 178.
29
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
notes is for the words, and the lower for the lyre (fe). And he
afterwards proves them to have been unisons to each other, both
by his definitions, and by placing them opposite to the same sound
in all the scales.
In this author, the notes of the great system of the Lydian mode
in the diatonic genus, are ranged in the following order:
7 1 R $ C P M lOrUZ E 13 CD Ji M' I
HrLFCoTT<:VNZfcJLlZr?/.T['<J' (/)
And these he defines in such a manner as leaves no room to doubt
of the identity of their signification.
7 H Proslambanomenos, an imperfect Zeta, and a Tau placed
horizontally.
1 F Hypate Hypaton an averted Gamma, and a Gamma direct.
R L Parypate Hypaton, an imperfect Beta, and a Gamma
inverted.
$ F Hypaton Diatonos, a Phi, and a Digamma.
C C Hypate Meson, Sigma and Sigma.
P O Parypate Meson, Rho, and Sigma inverted.
M T Meson Diotonos, Mu, and a lengthened Pi.
I < Mese, Iota, and a horizontal Lambda.
6 V Trite Synemmenon, Theta, and an inverted Lambda.
F N Synemmenon Diatonos, Gamma and Nu.
C? Z Nete Synemmenon, an inverted Omega and a Zeta.
Z t Paramese, Zeta, and Pi placed horizontally.
E j Trite Diezeugmenon, Epsilon, and an inverted Pi.
0 Z Diezeugmenon Diatonos, as Nete Synemmenon, which was
the same string in the lyre.
& iy 2\fete Diezeugmenon, horizontal Phi, and a small Eta
lengthened.
j^ / Trite hyperbolceon, an inverted Upsilon, and an imperfect
M'T HyperbolcBon Diatonos, Mu, and a lengthened Pi,
accented.
I <!' Nete Hyperbolceon, Iota, and an accented Lambda, placed
horizontally.
It is from the indefatigable labour of that learned Meibomius,*
in his Commentaries upon the ancient Greek Musicians, particularly
(ft) Sijfxeta TO fiw aw, rrj? Ae£ea><?' TO. fie icaro TTJS Kpovo-ews. Introd. Mus. Edit. Meibom. p. 2.
We are told, not only by Alypius, but by Gaudentius, p. 23, that of the two rows of letters used for
musical characters, the upper is for the words, that is, to be sung, and the under to be played.
(Z) It is somewhat strange that the notes for the voice in ancient music, should be placed above
those for the lyre, and consequently further from the words. Meibomius, in his preface, has, however,
given a curious reason for this custom, from a fragment of Bacchius, senior : " The upper line of notes
is for the poem, the lower for the lyre j because the mouth, which alone gives utterance to the words,
is placed by nature above the hands, which produce tones from the instrument."
* Marcus Meibom (Meibomius) of Upsala and Utrecht, published tracts and translations of
many Greek and Roman books on music. There does not seem to be any English translation ot the
Antiques musicae auctares septem graece et Mine (1625). He died in 1711. There have been reprints
of his work including one by Karl von Jais issued in 1895. Meibom's works include the treatises of
Aristoxenus. Euclid (Cleonides), Alypius, Nichomachus, Gaudentius, Bacchius senior, and Aristides
Quintilianus.
30
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
Alypius, that we are able to decypher these characters ; which,
before his time, had been so altered, corrupted, disfigured, and
confounded, by the ignorance or negligence of the transcribers of
ancient manuscripts, that they were rendered wholly unintelligible.
In examining the three diagrams of Alypius, where the notation
of all the fifteen modes in each genus is given, I have frequently
tried to find some rule for the use of different kinds of letters, or
reason for the confusion in which they appear in the scale. I thought
it would have furnished something of 201 historical deduction, if I
could have discovered that the simple letters of the alphabet were
used in a regular series, to express the sounds ascending or
descending, in any one mode of the several genera. For it was
natural to suppose, that in the first use of the alphabet for notes
as well as numbers, the order would have been regular ; and if such
a regularity could have been found, in any mode of the three
genera, it might have been presumed that such mode was the first to
which the alphabetic characters had been applied.
Indeed something like regularity appears, in passing the eye
obliquely upwards from Mese to Nete hyperbolaeon, in all the
genera, particularly in the enharmonic diagram, where the letters
proceed by quarter tones, as is generally the case, but with many
exceptions : I tried in vain to find the rule for these exceptions. All
the notes in the horizontal range of the several diagrams, are at the
same pitch; but they are frequently expressed by different
characters, for which I have been a.ble to assign no solid reason.
And, on the contrary, notes of a different pitch are sometimes
expressed by the same character, for which I am equally unable to
account. The letters and scale go on in a direct series of quarter-
tones for some time ; but afterwards, a letter is, unaccountably,
either omitted or repeated, which interrupts all regularity. I rather
suspect, however, that these perplexities may arise from the modes
being a semitone above each other. Ptolemy, lib. II. cap. 2 speaks
of the inconvenience of this arrangement of modes, owing to the
necessity of altering in some of them the tuning of all the strings.
I suspect likewise, that where the same note, in the same horizontal
line, is expressed by different characters, it was to suit the lyre ;
and that the two different sounds were expressed with the same
mark, to suit the fingers.
After a long and painful meditation upon these diagrams,
all that I am able to discover like regularity and constancy in them,
is in the following particulars :
1. In all the three genera the simple alphabet is used for the
upper octave of the Disdiapason, beginning with A at the semitone
above Nete hyperbolc&on, and always ending with Omega in Mese.
From thence downwards the second alphabet is used (m) consisting
of the disguised, and mutilated letters, but in the same regular
order of the alphabet, beginning always from Mese, and ending
with the divided Phi & a, in proslambanomenos of the Hypodorian
mode.
(w) Vide Meibom, in Prarf .
31
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The order of the letters in these several instances is broken and
interrupted, but no where, that I have been able to discover,
reversed or promiscuous. Then from the semitone above Nete
hyperbolceon upwards, to dd, the octave of Nete synemmenon, six
other characters are used, and these are still the six last letters of
the alphabet in a different dress: if these are traced downwards
from x ^> to QZ' tliey wiu ke found as regular as the former letters.
To complete the three octaves and one tone, in giving all the
fifteen modes intire, there still remain thirteen characters more,
which are repeated from the first alphabet of simple letters, except
the y at the top : after that character, they descend regularly from
AV to OK', distinguished only by an accent. The plain
alphabet therefore is used down to Mese, and the disguised
alphabet from mese to proslambanomenos. Six new disguised letters,
however, appear from the octave above Trite synemmenon, up to
the octave above Nete synemmenon : and thirteen old ones, with the
addition only of a virgula, from that sound up to the double octave
above Paramese.
2. In the enharmonic and chromatic genera the characters are
exactly the same, and in the same perpendicular order, in all the
modes ; only the chromatic Lichani, the distinguishing strings of
each genus, are marked, as Meibomius observes, with a dash, to
distinguish them from the enharmonic Lichani (n).
3. In all the three diagrams the strings, except the Lichani,
have the same characters : this will appear in examining any of the
modes ascending or descending perpendicularly, and missing the
red characters, which are the Lichani ; for the order of the rest,
which are black, will be found exactly the same in all the genera.
Thus much seems fixed and constant in all the diagrams of Alypius,
as published by Meibomius, and upon which these remarks are
intended as a commentary.
With respect to the multiplicity of characters, it is natural to
suppose that the Greeks began their notation when their compass
was small: as that was extended, they, were forced by degrees to
augment the number of their musical characters. And when this
method of notation by the letters of the alphabet was once
established, nothing was more obvious than to repeat the same
letters, which admitted of such easy variation, by position,
mutilation, and accents. The order of instrumental notes is much
more wild and unaccountable than that of the vocal, to which these
remarks have been hitherto confined.*
I am fearful of swelling my book too much with these conjectural
explications, though there is scarce a single circumstance relative
to ancient music which does not require them. However, amidst so
much doubt and obscurity, two points seem clearly demonstrable :
(n) The third string ascending, of each of the two lowest tetrachords, is called Lichanos.
* A complete list of the signs used in Greek musical notation will bo found on page 6 of the
introductory volume to the Oxford History of Music (1939) and also in the article " Monochord "
in Grove's Dictionary (vol. Ill, p. 498).
32
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
first, that the enharmonic genus moving in dieses, or quarter-tones,
is the most regular in its notation ; which encourages a belief that
this genus, however unnatural and difficult to us, must have been
not only very ancient, but the first that was expressed in writing ;
and consequently, at some one period of time, must have been in
the most general use (o). Secondly, that it must have been usual
to read the general scales, or diagrams, backwards, descending,
from acute to grave ; which, as all the ancient modes were in what
we should call minor keys, must have been more agreeable to the
ear than ascending, for want of a sharp-seventh. This, however,
does not imply that the tetrachords were always read in that order;
for these being much more ancient than the alphabetic notation,
had been long tuned and regulated from grave to acute.
The neglect of these distinctions will introduce a universal
scepticism concerning every part of ancient music. But provided
the intervals are determined, it is of as small consequence whether
the scale is read from the top to the bottom, or the bottom to the
top, as whether a child is taught to repeat the modern gammut
from G in the treble, or G in the base.
The scales of Aristoxenus, Euclid, and Alypius, begin at
Proslambanomenos, it is true; but though this note is first named
in the descriptions and definitions of the sounds of the several
systems, and consequently stands highest in the page where it is
mentioned, yet it does not follow that it was the most acute sound
in the scale, or that it was produced by the shortest string in the
ancient lyre (p). But so disputable is every thing that concerns
Greek music, that it has even been doubted whether this leading
note was the highest or lowest of the scale.
Galilei, Zarlino, Bontempi, Tevo, M. Rousseau, Dr. Brown,
and others have asserted, that the terms high and low, had different
acceptations among the ancients, from those in which they are
understood by the moderns, without guarding, as they ought to
have done, against such consequences, with respect to the situation
of the scale, as it was natural for the reader to draw from that
assertion.
Dr. Pepusch* asserts roundly, and without the least modification
of doubt, or even condescending to alledge a single reason or proof
in defence of his opinion, that "it was usual among the Greeks to
consider a descending as well as an ascending scale ; the former
proceeding from acute to grave, precisely by the same intervals as
the latter did from grave to acute. The first sound of each was the
Proslambanomenos (q)."
(o) See Sect II.
(p) If a verbal description of the modern gammut were given in writing, without notes, it would
have the same appearance : r ut, A re, B mi, C fa ut, D sol re, E la mi, F fa ut, G sol re ut, A la mi re,
B f a B mi, C sol fa ut, &c.
(q) Phil. Trans. No. cccclxxxi. p. 226, and Martyn's Abridg. Vol. X. Part i, p. «6i
m * 1667-1752. Specialized in the study of Greek musical theory. He settled in London in 1700,
and became a well-known and popular composer for the stage. He is best remembered to-day by
the work he did for "The Beggar's Opera " and " Polly."
Vox,, i. 3 33
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
No instances of these inverted scales are to be found, however,
in Aristoxenus, Euclid, or any of the oldest and best writers.
Boethius, Bryennius, and some other of the more modern compilers,
have, indeed, puzzled the cause by ambiguous expressions, which
seem to bear such construction (r) ; and Dr. Pepusch, the oracle of
his time, who equalled at least that of Delphos by the darkness of
his decrees, readily jumped to any conclusion that would involve a
musical question in mysterious and artificial difficulty.
It seems as if all this perplexity and confusion had arisen
from the want of precision in the musical nomenclature of the
Greeks. The prepositions vno, sub, vase, super, an<i the adjectives
VXCLTOG, summus, and VIJTOS, imus, have manifestly* been applied to
sounds more to express their situation in the lyre and diagrams,
than the length of the strings, or the gravity and acuteness of their
tones.
Dr. Wallis,* in his Appendix to Ptolemy's Harmonics (s),
explains this difficulty in the following manner.
"The Greeks called Hypate, supreme, though it is the lowest
sound or string of the tetrachord ; and Nete, last, or lowest, though
the most acute. (This Henry Stephens acknowledges at the word
vvjrij, which he defines ultimam seu imam : and paranete, ima
proximam) : therefore those who first ma.de use of these names,
applied them differently from us, calling grave, high, and acute,
low. And thus Nicomachus, p. 6, calls Saturn the highest of the
planets, Hypate] and the moon, the lowest, with respect to us, Nete.
Boethius, likewise, in his Treatise on Music, places, in all his
diagrams, the low sounds at the top, and the high ones at the
bottom. But, he concludes, that we must not attend to the original
import of these words, summus and imus, but understand Hypate
and Nete as first and last, or principal and extreme, as Aristides
Quintilianus has done, p. 10."
In the first, or Mercurian lyre, the longest string, which produced
the lowest sound, from being placed highest in the instrument, as
is the case with the modern harp, was called Hypate, the highest
sound, and Nete, for the same reason, was afterwards, upon the
extension of the scale, called lowest, though the most acute. Trite,
the third string from the top of the two last tetrachords, had its
name, as in our violins, by comparison with the smallest strings.
From a passage in Aristides Quintilianus (t) it seems as if the
Greeks, in naming and numbering the notes of their scale, made
it a rule always to go towards Mese, and end with it, as being the
regulator of the other notes, and situated in the medium of the
voice. This is confirmed by the problem of Aristotle already cited,
and this confirms what has been already observed of the order of
the alphabetic notation, in which Mese is always expressed by
(r) Meibom, in Gaudent, p. 33, et Wallis in Bryennio, p. 364, et seq.
(s) P. 159. FoL Ed. (t) P. n, at the top.
* Published the texts of Ptolemy, Porphyry's Commentary and Bryennius, between 1657-1699.
34
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
Omega. It seems, therefore, as if the Greeks ascended the lower
octave of the disdiapason, and descended the upper one ; otherwise
it is not easy to see why the strings of the upper octave should have
names referring, as they evidently do, to a descending series, and
in order opposite to those of the lower octave (u).
IlaQa, in the compound names of the notes, evidently means
next in order; Parypate, in the lower octave, then is ascent ;
Paranete, in the upper octave, plainly descent. The same is implied
in Trite. But the term Neie, last, looks very like ascent again —
And darkness was upon the face of the deep ! — These contradictions
may account in some degree for the great perplexity about the
scale ; they are curious, however, and as well worth observing,
perhaps, as any matters of this kind.
I have, indeed, from the seemingly aukward and uncouth melody
produced by the Greek scales ascending, been sometimes inclined
to think that if they were reversed with respect to intervals, it
would be much more agreeable to our ears, and explain away many
difficulties; but soon found that it would leave others stifl more
insuperable behind : put Proslambanomenos out of the question,
as a note that might be added indifferently to the top or bottom of
the scale, and compare the intervals of our diatonic scale in C
natural descending, with that of the Greek in the Hypodorian mode
ascending, and the intervals will be found to be the same.
This hypothesis might have been defended by many passages in
the Greek writers ; yet stubborn facts would have arisen against it,
by which, in the end, it would be totally overthrown.
The perplexity concerning the scale is a subject that required
more time and meditation than I was able to bestow upon it ;
however, I was very unwilling to leave it, till I had discovered by
some indisputable rule, how to determine the question, as the few
fragments left of Greek music, by a mistake in this particular,
would be as much injured as a poem, by reading it backwards.
At length, an infallible rule presented itself to me,, in the works
of the great Euclid, who has been regarded for so many ages as the
legislator of mathematicians, and whose writings have been their
code. In his section of the Canon (x), p. 37, Edit. Meibom. he
represents Proslambanomenos by the whole string: so that, if any
thing concerning ancient music can be made certain, it is, that this
whole string represented the lowest sound in the Greek scale,
which, in the Hyperdorian mode, was equivalent to the
(u) See Meibomius's note upon Arist. Quintil. p. n, which seems solid.
(*) By Canon must here be understood a single string, which being intersected by moveable
bridges, serves as a rule or law, for determining musical intervals, and the exact proportion of sound to
sound.
35
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
note A
Half the string, Mese, its octave, a,
Third part, Nete diezeugmenon, fifth of the octave, e,
And the fourth part of the string, Nete hyperbolaon,
the double octave, aa,
which include all the concords that the ancients admitted. Eight
ninths of the string are allotted to the sound Hypate Bareia Gravis,
which is B in the base, one tone higher than Proslambanomenos,
or A.
This section, therefore, of the line, representing the sound A,
must put an end to every doubt concerning the order of the scale,
which may have arisen from the inverted application of the words
high and low, constantly occurring in all the more ancient and
authentic Greek writers on music.
And now having done with the scale, let us return to the
tablature.
The multiplicity of notes in ancient Greek music must certainly
have made it a very long and laborious study, even at a time when
the art itself was in reality very simple. Hence it is not surprising to
find that Plato (y), though he was unwilling that youth should
bestow too much time upon music, allowed them to sacrifice three
years to it, merely in learning the elements ; and thought that he
had reduced this study to its shortest period : but at the end of this
time, a student could hardly be capable of naming all the notes, and
of singing an air at sight, as we call it, in all keys and in all the
genera, accompanying himself at the same time upon the lyre ;
much less could it be expected that he should be correct in every
species of rhythm ; that he should be master of taste and expression;
or be able to compose a melody himself to a new lyric poem.
It was much more difficult to sing from the tablature, than to
follow a voice or instrument, as it is far more perplexing to read the
Chinese language than to speak it, on account of the great
multiplicity of characters. However, if we could find Greek music
now,* we should be able to read it, contrary to the general opinion,
which is, that the ancient notation is utterly lost. But though we
can perhaps decypher it as exactly as the Greeks themselves could
(y) De Legib. lib. viL
* Only a few examples of Greek music have come down to us :—
(1) Scraps of music to the Orestes of Euripides (lines 338-343). The fragment is generally
considered as being a contemporary score.
(2) An inscription on a column discovered at Tralles by W. H. Ramsay, and known as the
Epitaph of Seikolos. The date of this fragment is uncertain.
(3) Three hymns by Mesomedes, of which transcriptions by Burney are given in Section 7
(4) Some parts of hymns found whilst excavating the site of Delphi. The probable date
of the first of •these is late second century B.C., and of the second circa xs8 B.C.
(5) A few exercises for instruments now deposited at Berlin.
36
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
have done, yet to divide it into phrases, to accentuate, and to give
it the original and true expression, are things, at present, impossible,
and ever will remain so. For it is with the music of every country
as with the language ; to read it with the eye, and to give it
utterance, are different things ; and we can arrive at no greater
certainty about the expression of a dead music, than the
pronunciation of a dead language.
" It is astonishing, however," says M. Burette (z), " that the
ancient Greeks, with all their genius, and in the course of so many
ages as music was cultivated by them, never invented a shorter and
more commodious way of expressing sounds in writing, than by
sixteen hundred and twenty notes; nor ever thought of simplifying
their tablature, by making the same characters serve both for voices
and instruments. It will perhaps be said that this distinction of
tablature still subsists with us, for the lute, and for some other
instruments ; but this distinction is almost abolished (a)." And yet,
notwithstanding the great simplicity of our tablature, compared
with that, of the ancients, it must be owned that the modern
characters are so numerous and difficult to understand, and retain
in the memory, that a student in music has the voice and ear
formed long before the eye is able to read them. And it may be
affirmed, that the attention to the rules of music is more difficult
than the execution.
It would be therefore curious to calculate the difficulties of
ancient and modern music separately, that by a comparative view
we might be enabled to determine which had the greater number.
With respect to those of notation, their being so much more
numerous in the ancient music than the modern, is, perhaps, more
imaginary than real.
For though the ancients had one hundred and twenty .different
characters for sound only, without including time, which characters,
by changes in the modes and genera, were multiplied to sixteen
hundred and twenty ; yet, if we compare these changes with such
as are produced by our seven clefs, in which each note is subject to
the accidents of flats and sharps, the memory will appear to be
little less burthened by modern than by ancient musical notation.
Our compass is indeed much more extensive than that of the
Greeks ; but if we confine it to three octaves only, which was the
extent of the whole range of modes in the great system of the
ancients,* we shall have seven changes for each of the twenty-two
natural sounds, which amount in all to one hundred and fifty-four,
without the accidents of flats and sharps ; and these being nearly
(*) Mem. de Litter, torn. v. p. 182.
(a) M. Burette has presented to the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Letttes at Paris, a great
number of well written memoirs upon almost every part ox ancient music. When the enquiries of
this learned academician seem successful, and satisfy my mind by the solution of difficulties, I shall
freely avail myself of his diligence and erudition ; at other times, I shall either attempt to explain
these difficulties myself, or shall frankly confess my ignorance and inability to furnish my readers with
any satisfactory information concerning
* The full extent of the Greek musical system was ultimately three and one third octaves,
The number of signs employed therefore was 140—70 for vocal and 70 for instrumental use.
37
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The Perfect System of the Moderns compared with
the Qreat and Qeneral System of the Ancients
Greek appellatives
Notation
of the
sounds
in the
Hypo-
donan
mode
An-
cient
Solmi*
sation
Modern solmi-
sation, attri-
buted to Guido
Roman
letters of
which the
capitals
were first
used by
StGregory
Clefs
Greek names to
the sounds of the
second octave.
M'
n
M
T!
TO
la
ee
JL
\
JL
A.
ra
TW
la
sol
dd
dd
*
A
*
A
TU>
T^
sol
B
fa
fa
mi
cc
cc
B
/
U
T^
ra
bb
tlB
r
N
re
la
mi
re
aa
Nete hyperbolaeon
H
>
ro>
sol
re
ut
fir
1
Paranete Hyperb.
or Hyp. diat.
A
X,
ri?
fa
ut
f
Trite hyp.
M
Tt
TO,
la
mi
e
Nete diezeug.
Nete Synemmenon
P
C
IT
0
TO.
TO)
la
sol
re
d
d
Paranete diez. or
Diez. diat.
Synem. diat.
T
1
Y
IL
TW
T^
sol
tt
fa
fa
ut
c
c
f
Trite diez.
Trite Synem.
*
9
*
1
Tij
ra
mi
b
ti
Paramese.
MESS
O
X"
T«
la
mi
re
a
Meson diat. or
Lichanos Meson
^
H
TO)
sol
re
ut
G
Parypate Meson
/T\
W
rn
fa
ut
F
9r
Hypate Meson
*
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la
mi
E
Hyp. diatonos, or
Lichanos Hyp.
A
TCO
sol
re
D
Paryp. hypaton
b
6)
T^
fa
ut
C
Hypate hypaton
1
ra
mi
B
PmslqrnT>anoTrM»nQ3
•§•
re
re
A
O
G
TO)
ut
r
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
double that number, the whole will amount to about four hundred
and fifty-five different representations of the semitones contained
in three octaves, without enumerating either extreme sharps, or
double flats.
Let us, after this, consider the difference of intonation occasioned
by temperament, between the keys of C natural and C sharp with
seven sharps; of D natural with two sharps, and of D flat with five
flats; differences which are certainly distinctions and difficulties in our
notation, as C # and D|? are not only different sounds upon perfect
instruments, but expressed by different characters in our tablature.
Let us likewise consider the different situation of the sounds in all
our twenty-four keys ; taking into the account, at the same time,
the great numbers of our different characters for the duration of
these sounds; and the simplicity of modern notation will not appear
so much superior to the ancient as has been imagined.
But music is a modern art with us, as it is only a few centuries
since the present system is supposed to have been invented ; whereas
ancient music flourished and was cultivated some thousand years
before that period. It is therefore by no means surprising, that ours
has not yet acquired every possible convenience of notation.
However, notwithstanding the defects of modern music in some
particulars, I may venture to affirm that it has arrived at a very
great degree of perfection ; and I appeal for the truth of this
assertion to the daily experience of persons of good taste and refined
ears.
In order to furnish my readers with a comparative view of the
ancient and modern musical systems, I shall here insert a general
diagram of both, constructed by the learned Meibomius, in his
notes upon Euclid.
Section II
Of the three Qenera: Diatonic, Chromatic,
and Enharmonic
IN modern music the Genera are but two: Diatonic and
Chromatic These consist in the manner of arranging the tones
and semitones of which melody is composed (a).
In ancient music, not only the tone was divided into two, as with
us, but the semitone by a Diesis or Quarter-tone. These three kinds
of interval, the tone, semitone, and Diesis, constituted the difference
of the three genera.
It has been already observed that the fourth was the constant
boundary of sounds in the music of the ancients ; and that its
extremes, or highest and lowest sounds, were stantes, immobiles, or
fixed. As the octave in modern music admits of no change, but
is tuned as perfect as possible, so the fourth in ancient music was
never allowed to deviate from perfection. The different genera
therefore were characterized by the changes that were made in the
two middle sounds of the tetrachord, which were styled mobiles,
mutable. So that a Genus is defined by Euclid, the division and
disposition of the tetrachord with respect to the intervals of the
four sounds of which it is composed ; and Pappus Alexandrinus
says, that the Genera consisted only in different divisions of the
tetrachord.
In the Diatonic Genus, the melody proceeded by a semitone,
and two tones, as B C D E | 71 „ »^^j ', and it was from the
succession of two tones, that this genus acquired the name of
Diatonic. As the term is derived from dia, by, and rovo$, tone ; that
is, passing from one tone to another ; which in the Greek music
was never done but in the diatonic genus.
The Chromatic proceeded by two successive semitones, and a
hemiditone, or minor third, as B C C 4 E J1 A «'ti?j^3oj|
o-*-^-*---^
This modulation holding the middle place between the diatonic
and enharmonic, has been supposed by Martianus Capella and
(a) When no more than two semitones occur in the course of an octave, the melody mav nrooerlv
be styled genuine Diatonic. *^
Indeed the Chromatic in use at present can hardly be compared with that of the ancients • for
with them every accidental flat or sharp which led to a new mode or key.would have been called a change
of Genus. With us, however, a mere change of modulation, though it occasions a change of key, is not
a change of genus ; for while the sounds made use of in harmony and melody can be referred to any one
fc<y, the Dtatomc genus is supposed to be preserved : it is only a regular succession of two or more
semitones, ascending or descending, that constitutes modern Chromatic.
4°
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
Bryennius, to derive its name from xewpa, colour ; for as the
gradations between black and white are called colours, so this genus
being placed between the diatonic and enharmonic, is called
Chromatic. M. Rousseau tells us, in his Dictionary, that this genus
used to be written in coloured notes, but without giving any
authority in support of this opinion.
The Enharmonic tetrachord proceeded by two quarter tones,
and a major third, B Bx C E* _J* n ^ ^ ^=&% This genus
is often called by Aristoxenus, and others, simply aqpovia,
harmonia, that is, well arranged and ordered.
Each of the three genera had some sounds in its scale that were
peculiar and characteristic, and some that were in common with
the other two. For instance, B C E F A B|? and d, were used in
all the three genera, whereas D G were peculiar to the diatonic,
C# and F# to the chromatic, and Bx Ex and Ax to ttie
enharmonic. A complete scale of each genus in modem notes will
explain this matter better than words.
^ Isttet. 2fndtet ^ — 3rd tqt^ 4th tet 5th tet
t-7«S
Diaton.
Chrom.
Enhar.
Proslam. J "ST*"**
Hence it appears that the regular diatonic scale consisted, like
the modern, of tones and semitones ; the chromatic, of semitones
and minor thirds ; and the enharmonic, of quarter-tones and major
thirds ; distinctions which seem to have been long religiously
observed in Greece ; as the lyre was allowed but four strings to each
tetrachord, and flutes were bored in a particular manner for each
genus, in which no provision was made for producing the tones
peculiar to the other two. However, in Euclid's time [323-238 B.C.]
we find that a mixed genus, as he calls it, had been admitted into
practice. This author, the clearest and most satisfactory, as far as
he goes, of all the ancients who have treated of music, has given
us the following extraordinary scale of sounds used in the mixed
genus.
Proslam - Mc*f
?'
By which it appears that six strings are wanting to fill up the
Diatessaron, or interval of a fourth, which, in any one of the three
pure and uncompounded genera, ha.d occasion but for four ; and
the octaves from proslambanomenos to mese, which in the pure
* The sign X is used to indicate the raising of the pitch of a note by a quarter tone.
4*
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
diatonic, chromatic, or enharmonic, had but eight strings, in the
mixed genus must have been supplied with twelve. ^ So that a
remark made by Perrault (&) concerning the superiority of the
modern scale over the ancient, in having a greater number of
sounds in the compass of a fourth, is not so much in our favour as
it at first appears ; the number of notes being equal in both : with
this difference, that the ancients had no G sharp, or E flat, and the
moderns have no Diesis, or interval of a quarter-tone, between
B C, E F, or A and B^.
Aristoxenus tells us that the division and bounds of the genera
were not accurately fixed till his time ; and Aristides Quintilianus
speaks of several genera, or species of intervals, which were of the
highest antiquity ; yet so wild and irregular, that after the art of
music was brought to a greater degree of perfection, and the laws of
the three principal genera were settled, they had been totally disused
by the best musicians. The same author asserts, that it is of these
barbarous divisions of the scale, or old Harmonies, as they were
called, and not the common modes of the same names, that Plato
speaks in his Republic, where he admits some of them, and rejects
others.
The ancients attributed peculiar effects to each genus, and speak
of many characteristic distinctions of genera, which now appear to
be wholly fanciful and imaginary. These, if they ever had
existence, were, perhaps, destroyed by modern harmony. Aristides
Quintilianus,* p. Ill, tells us, that
The diatonic is manly, and austere;
The chromatic sweet, and pathetic ; and
The enharmonic animating, and mild.
Vitruvius, speaking of the enharmonic, says, that it is in a
particular manner grave and majestic (c).
And Plutarch, in his first Essay against Colotes the Epicurean,
asks, "Why does the chromatic genus melt and dissolve, and the
enharmonic brace the nerves, and compose the mind, after being
disturbed?" . __
Aristides Quintilianus, in another place (d), says of the genera",
that the diatonic is the most natural, because all who have ears,
though uninstructed in music, are capable of singing it.
The chromatic is more (e) artificial, for it can be sung only by
such as are adepts in music.
(&) Essais Physiques, torn. ii.
(c) Cantus ejus maximl grawm, et egregiam habet auctoritaiem.
Perhaps the idea of a major-key, which the enharmonic ditone must impress upon the ear, may have
contributed to the notion of music in that genus being animating ; but how it could be at the same
time \ grave and soothing, animating and mild, is not easy to conceive. This genus was never known to
the Romans, having been lost before they attempted the polite arts.
(d} P. 19. Edit. Meibom.
B («) A learned, friend has proposed a natural and easy correction of the text in this passage, which
as it stands in Meibomius, is scarce intelligible. It consists only in a transposition of the termination
of the two last characteristic adjectives.
* Aristides flourished probably in tbe ad or sd canturie A.D. Meibomius reprinted the
work referred to. Groves (vol. i, p. Ha) gives him as living about A.D. 150.
42
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
The enharmonic is the most refined and difficult of all, and has
been received and practised only by the greatest artists.
The ancients have related such wonders of this long-lost, and
long-lamented genus, that a particular discussion seems necessary
here concerning its existence and properties. There is nothing so
difficult to the conception of modern musicians, as that pleasing
effects should ever have been produced by intervals, which they
themselves are unable to form, and to which, if they could form
and introduce them into melody, no harmony could be given, that
would be agreeable to the ear, or the rules of counterpoint.
And there are so many inconsistencies, in the accounts of ancient
authors concerning this kind of music, that nothing but an
hypothesis can reconcile them to probability. With the permission,
therefore, of my readers, I shall venture to throw together my
conjectures upon this subject in that form ; assuring them, at the
same time, that it is the only hypothesis which I intend to hazard
in the course of this work.
Old Enharmonic
From several passages in ancient authors who have written
upon music, it appears that there were two kinds of
enharmonic melodies in use among the Greeks ; in the most
ancient of which we do not find that the Diesis or Quarter-tone, ever
had admission. This I shall distinguish, in the course of the
following essay, by the title of Old Enharmonic. The other, in
which the semitone was divided, and which seems to have been a
refinement upon this, I shall call New Enharmonic.
"The number of "four strings, from which the tetrachord derived
its name," says M. Rousseau (a), " was so far from being essential,
that we find tetrachords in ancient music which had only three. Such
for some time, were the enharmonic tetrachords/' He mentions
the same circumstance in speaking of the invention of the
enharmonic genus by Olympus (6).
Now, as the only source of these assertions seems to be a passage
in Plutarch's Dialogue on Music, which is really curious, I shall here
insert as faithful a translation of it as possible.
"Olympus, as Aristoxenus informs us (c), is thought by
musicians to have invented the enharmonic genus : for before his
time, all was diatonic and chromatic. He is supposed to have hit
upon the invention in some such way as this: while he was
preluding in the diatonic genus, it is imagined that passing
frequently in his melody from Paramese, and from Mese to
Parhypate Meson, skipping over the Lichanos, he observed the
beauty of the effect : to xaMoe rov jj&ovs, effect, manner, or
expression, and forming then the whole system (of the octachord or
(a) Diet, de Mus. Art. TETRACHORDE. (ft)' Art ENHARMONIQUE,
(c) In a work that is not extant.
43
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
heptachord, as I understand it) according to this analogy (d), and
being struck with it, he adopted and composed in it, in the Dorian
mode, without touching any string peculiar to the diatonic, to the
chromatic, or indeed to the enharmonic ; and such were his
enharmonic melodies. For the first of these they reckon to have
been the nome or melody called Spondean ; in which melody
none of the divisions of the tetrachord (i.e., the genera) show their
peculiar characters (e). . . . For the close enharmonic evaepovtov
xvxvov, now in use (/), seems not to have been invented by this
musician ; as any one may easily be convinced, that attends to a
performer on the flute, who plays in the old-fashioned style: for
such players chuse to make the semitone an uncompounded interval.
Such then were the original enharmonic melodies ; but, afterwards,
the semitone was divided, in the Lydian, and Phrygian modes.
Thus it appears that Olympus improved the art, by introducing a
manner that was new and unknown to former musicians, and was
the great leader and author of the genuine and beautiful Greek
music (g)."
M. Burette, who has published the whole Dialogue of Plutarch,
with a translation, and an ample commentary, in the Memoirs of
the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres, seems unable to
account for Olympus touching no sotmd peculiar to any one of the
three genera : however, nothing in the Dialogue is clearer than that
Plutarch means to say that the three notes used by. Olympus in
each tetrachord were common to all the genera: he neither intro-
duced Lichanos diatonos, which is peculiar to the diatonic; nor
Lichanos chromaticos; nor even, says Plutarch, the sound now
essential to the enharmonic; that is, neither D natural, C sharp, nor
the enharmonic BX.
But M. Burette confounds the old enharmonic with the new.
He will have the spondean melody to have been in the Phrygian
mode mentioned by Aristides Quintilianus, p. 21 ; though in that
the Diesis is admitted ; and Plutarch says expressly that this old
melody did not admit any characteristics of the genera. And all
this he does merely to explain an unintelligible parenthesis, which
(d) That is, missing the third sound, ascending, in every tetrachord which he used. What land
oi melody would be produced from such a mutilated scale, will be shewn further on.
(e) This is, plainly, enharmonic, without the quarter-tone. — Here a long unintelligible parenthesis
is omitted.
(/) That is, with the Diesis, or true enharmonic quarter-tone.
(g) ^QXvjiwros fie, (o>ff 'AptoTTO&j'os firj&iv) vTroXa/u-jSaverat WTTO TWI/ /zoi/o"i/«i>i/ TOV (Wpjuoi/tov,
vs eupeT/js yeyevijcrflat, ra yap vpo e/cetpov TrcwTa, fitaTOpa /eat xp<oju,ansca T/I/. vnroi'oovcrt fie r»jf
'
.
evpecrtp Tot aimjv riva ywecrOai, at/acrrpe^o/teroi' TOV 'OXv/ATroj/ «V T&> fitaToi'<;>, /cat fita/3tj8a£oiTa TO
juieXo? aroXXa/as eVt n\v Siarovov rrapyTra-nj*', TOT* /mev arro -njy Trapa/xeaTj?, Tore fie cwro 717? M«<r»/s,
jcat irapajSaii/oira n]v Starovov Xt.xa.vov /cara/xadetv TO /caAAo? TOV •qiov?, /cat ovno TO IK TTJ?
ai/aXoyiaj CTWCOTTJKO? crv<mjjaa 6o.vfJ.o.cra.vra. icai arrofic^a/xcwv, tV TOVT<P iron-it/ cm TOV Aw/nov
rovov. OVT« yap TWV TOV fiiaTOi'ov tfita»/ ovTe Ttov TOV XPa)/xaT°5l ttirreorflai, aXXa ovfi« TWI/ TTJ?
eu'at S'aura) TO. irpwTa T<OI/ ei/ap/xovtwv Tot avra. TiOc'atrt yap TOVTW irpwrov rov
*
, <» ovfic/xta TWV ficaipweoi/ TO t^top e/A^aw/«t. ** * ************
TO yap e^rats /u-ejrat? cvappovLov TTUKJ/OV, oJ vw xPWTcu, ov fio/cei TOV irotijTOv ni/at. pafitop fi'eort
-, eai/ TI, apxacKw^ TW'OJ avXowTo? a/cov<nj. dcrvi/deTOv yap jSovXeTai cti/at, /cat TO cv Tat?
jatTOVov. Ta jAei/'ovv wpwTa TWV ei/ap/utovtwv, TOtavTa. vorepoi/ fie TO ^/uitTOt/to^ fitvjpetfrj,
^? Avfitot?^ icat ev TOI? *pvytot5. 4>a«/eTat 8'OXv/Airo5 av^eras ftovo'twji', T<J> ayewjToi' Tt,
icat ayroov/uevoy wo TWJ/ enirpoo-Oev eto*ayayeii/, »cai apx^yos yei/e<r0at T»J5 'EXXTjvt/a/c icai
44
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
is better omitted, unless some sense could be given to it that would
not militate with the rest of the text, which is clear and intelligible
without it.
M. Burette must be allowed the merit of great diligence and
learning ; but he does not seem always to have been possessed of
an equal share of sagacity, or with courage sufficient to confess
himself unable to explain inexplicable passages in his author. He
never ^ sees a difficulty ; he explains all. Hence, amidst great
erudition, and knowledge of antiquity, there are a thousand unin-
telligible explanations in his notes upon Plutarch. En ecrivant,
said Fontenelle, jai toujours tache de m9 entendre. — An admirable
rule ! which every writer ought to adopt.
Thus much is said, not with a view to depreciate the merit of
M. Burette, to whom almost all late writers on music have had
great obligations, and whose labours have been of singular service
to myself, among the rest ; but to shew how few authors are to
be always followed implicitly, or read without precaution.
The passage of Plutarch relative to Old Enharmonic is rendered
fairly, and as near literally as possible. It must be remembered
that the Dorian mode, in which Olympus is said to have composed
his melodies, answers to our key of D natural. Now, in the tetra-
chords of this mode, if we omit every third sound, we shall have the
following melody, whether Olympus had two conjunct, or two
disjunct tetrachords for his system.
Conj.
Prosl. only wanting to complete the octave.
Mese or Key note.
Disj.
Both these scales contain only the intervals to be found in the
following octave.
Now this is exactly the old Scots scale in the minor key ; a
circumstance which must strike every one who reads the passage of
Plutarch, that is at all acquainted with the intervals of the Greek
scale, and with Scots music.
The abb6 Roussier, in the second article of his Memoire sur la
Musique des Anciens, speaks of an old Chinese scale of six notes,*
mentioned by Rameau. It is preserved in numbers ; and, according
* The old Chinese scale was pentatonic and the various notes bore queer names : Emberor.
Prime Minister, Subject People, State Affairs, and Picture of the Universe. A sixth note was added
about iioo B.C., but later the five note scale was re-adopted. Apart from this the Chinese had a
secondary system of 12 divisions of the octave ,which was used to allow the pentatonic scale to be
accommodated to various pitches.
45
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
to Rameau's interpretation, who applies the numbers to ascending
fifths, they produce the very identical Scots scale, adding only a
note to complete the octave, C, D, E, G, A, cc. The abb6 contends
that Rameau is wrong ; and indeed the argument he uses against
him concerning lengths and vibrations, Sect. XXI. does seem
plausible ; but the abb£ had the interest of a system to biass him
in determining this matter, which Rameau had not. It must be
confessed, at least, that Rameau's interpretation forms the more
probable and natural scale: because, like the Scots, and the Old
Enharmonic, it leaves out the fourth and seventh of the key. The
only specimen of Chinese music which M. Rousseau has given in
his Dictionary, from Du Halde, seems to confirm Rameau's scale :
for except in one passage, at the beginning of the third bar, where
F natural comes in so aukwardly, as to raise a suspicion that it has
been inserted by a mistake of the engraver, the fourth and seventh
of the key are scrupulously missed throughout ; and nothing can
be more Scottish than the whole cast of the air.
All the specimens that I have been able to collect of Chinese
melody, several of which will be given among the examples of
national music in the second book, are of this cast. Indeed they
must be so, in compliance with the construction of their instruments,
in which there are no semitones. One of these I saw when I was
last at Paris : it was in the possession of the abb6 Arnaud of the
French Academy, and was a kind of Sticcado, consisting of bars of
wood of different lengths, as sonorous as if they had been of metal :
these were placed across a hollow vessel resembling the hulk of a
ship. The compass was two octaves, and the intervals were
arranged in the following order:
Now no music can be composed from such a scale that will not
remind us of the melody of Scotland, which will hereafter be proved
of a much higher antiquity than has generally been imagined.
With respect to the music of China, Dr. Lind, an excellent judge
of the subject, and philosophically curious about every thing that
relates to it, after residing a considerable time in that country,
assured me that all the melodies he had heard there bore a strong
resemblance to the old Scots tunes. And Dr. Russel has favoured
me with twelve Chinese airs, that were brought from China by
his brother, the late Claude Russel, Esq., of the Bengal council ; all
which confirm what has been said of the want of semitones in the
Chinese scale, and of the strong resemblance between these airs,
and those of Scotland, by the omission of the 4th and 7th of the
key. These airs are all in common time, and have words to them.
I must add that since the publication of the first edition of this
volume, I have received answers to some musical queries which I
sent to Canton, in China. These were translated into French and
Italian, and transmitted to Pekin, and into a province remote from
.4*
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
that capital. One of these queries concerned the Chinese Musical
Scale, which an Italian missionary, who has resided at Pekin more
than thirty years, and is a good musician, affirms to be without
Semitones (h).
But to return to the old enharmonic of Olympus. What degree
of authority is to be allowed to the passage in Plutarch concerning
the manner of its invention, I will not pretend to determine.
No other author whatever, that I have been able to consult, tells
this story ; though many besides Aristoxenus, from whom Plutarch
quotes the account, have attributed to Olympus the invention of the
enharmonic genus. But if there had been two sorts of enharmonic,
an ancient and a modern, it may seem somewhat strange that not
one of the many authors who treat of the genera, should say a word
to this purpose. We may observe, however, that it came more in
the way of an historical than a technical treatise ; and this Dialogue
of Plutarch is the only historical tract upon music that is come down
to us (i). Indeed the account is not given in such terms as would
make us suppose it merely the hypothesis of an individual ; but
rather an old traditional opinion current among all the musicians.
But the Lichanos, or third sound from the bottom of a tetra-
chord, seems not to have been the only one which the old Grecian
harpers and pipers were fond of missing in their melodies. Plutarch
observes (k), that in what he calls the onovfetax®, onovfoia£ovrt
, they abstained from the use of Trite, or third sound from
the top of a tetrachord, skipping over which, ascending, they
used to ff diafiifla&iv TO peAoe/' i.e., " carry the melody over to
Paranete." ^ or
I must just observe that the octave produced by missing the
third note downwards in two tetrachords, as the second was missed
in the enharmonic of Olympus, gives exactly the Chinese scale of
the abb6 Roussier (/), and that of the instrument in the possession
of the abb6 Arnaud.
Now what is TQOJCOS onovdsiafav, the spondean mode or manner?
It looks as if it was the same thing as the spondean melody, that is,
the libation tune of Olympus, one of those which were still extant
in Plutarch's time ; for he says, "the Greeks now use them upon
festivals."
Plutarch talks likewise of the old masters omitting Nete, the
highest sound of a tetrachord ; not through ignorance, says he,
for they used both that and Trite in their instrumental music ; but
in their vocal melody, "it would have been a disgrace to a musician
(h) La Cinesi ntlla loro Musica non hanno Semituoni.
Lristoxenus, which Plutarch quotes as h
Lit torn. x. p. 309.
(k) Ib. 136. (I) Vide p. 24, of the Mem.
(*) The book of Aristoxenus, which Plutarch quotes as his authority, was, according to M. Burette
historical. Mem. de Lit. torn. x. p. 309.
47
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
to have used the Nete"\ perhaps from the impropriety of straining
the voice in the execution of a note that was too high for its natural
compass, Nete being the last and highest note of the scale in all
the modes.
The perplexity occasioned by the change of names according to
the gradual extension of the system, and the uncertainty what
system is really here understood, whether heptachord or octachord,
disjunct or conjunct, throws undoubtedly a thick fog over all this
account in Plutarch's Dialogue. However, I still think it by far the
most curious passage about the ancient music that I have ever met
with : as it is the only one that tends to anything like a description
of what old Greek melody was. All the rules for it in Aristoxenus
furnish not a single idea. The accounts of the genera do indeed
give us an idea of the intervals in each ; yet it is an idea that we
know not what to do with. But when we hear of constantly
skipping notes in a diatonic scale, we really do acquire some idea,
however general.
There is nothing that gives a stronger character, or tf&os, as the
Greeks called it, to a melody, than the constant or usual omission
of particular notes in the scale. Suppose it uncertain from this
passage what notes were missed ; yet the general fact, that these
old musicians, composers of the ancient genuine Greek music,
which Plato, Aristotle, and all the writers speak of as so excellent
and superior to the more modern, did delight to break the diatonic
progression, to diaftif!a£ewf or stride over certain notes in the melody,
seems pretty clear: and this surely renders it highly probable, that
the cast of the old national Greek airs was much like that of the old
Scots music. If they had melodies where the Lichanos was omitted,
they must have been very like ; but even the Trite omitted gives still
a strong Scottish tincture to an air aT Tf ^ J j || • for if
we suppose the key note to be G instead of E ; a major
key instead of a minor, this omission gives precisely the Scots scale.
And I believe, in general, that the omission of any notes in the
scale, producing skips of thirds, will have much the same effect
on the ear.
The Chinese scale, take it which way we will, is certainly very
Scottish. It is not my intention to insinuate by this that the one
nation had its music from the other, or that either was obliged to
ancient Greece for its melody ; though there is a strong resemblance
in all three. The similarity, however, at least proves them all to b(
more natural than they at first seem to be, as well as more ancient,
The Chinese are extremely tenacious of old customs, and equally
enemies to innovation with the ancient -Egyptians, which favours
the idea of the high antiquity of this simple music ; and as there is
reason to believe it very like that of the most ancient Greek melodies,
it is not difficult to suppose it to be a species of music that is natural
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
to a people of simple manners during the infancy of civilization
and arts among them. In this and in other perplexing points, it is
, my sincere wish to leave the mind of my reader something, at least,
like an idea to fasten upon ; and what conveys the fullest conviction
to my own mind, I shall, in general, adhere to, witMbut unhinging
all belief, by quoting a crowd of heterogeneous opinions upon the
same subject. Besides, if I wished to give all the chaos of com-
mentatorship, I could not, for want of room.
I shall therefore proceed to speak of the more artful and
Modern Enharmonic
The account already given of the invention of Olympus seems
not only to furnish some idea of the old Greek melody, but helps, I
think, to make the true enharmonic with the Diesis, somewhat less
inconceivable than it would be without this idea of its origin.
If we take the enharmonic tetrachord ^^^^g| by
itself, it appears wholly strange and unaccountable; not only from
the divided semitone, but from the skip of a Ditone, which the
melody was confined to in its progress, after the two Dieses in
ascending, or before them, in descending. ML Burette accounts
for this rule, from the limited number of strings: "The tetrachord
had but four strings," says he; "three of these were occupied by the
semitone and its division : it was therefore matter of necessity to
skip to the upper note of the tetrachord, a stable sound, which
could not be dispensed with." This may, of necessity, have been
the case during the early ages of music in Greece ; but afterwards
the custom must have been continued through choice, and in
compliance with venerable and established melodies used in
religious ceremonies, which admitted of no change for many ages.
And it is easy to conceive that after a nation has been long
accustomed to the omission of certain sounds in their melodies, they
will not soon be reconciled to the use of them. This is the case
in the music of Scotland, where no ancient tune is thought to be
genuine, unless certain sounds are omitted.
But the reason assigned by M. Burette for the omission of certain
sounds in the chromatic and enharmonic genera, for want of a
sufficient number of strings in the Lyre, is invalidated by a passage
in Aristoxenus, p. 28, where he lays down the same rule for the
voice, and where the lyre is out of the question, as he is expressly
considering the natural vocal succession. Indeed the voice and
lyre were alternately subservient to each other. In very early times
the lyre seems to have governed the voice, and to have regulated its
intervals and compass by the small number of strings with which it
was furnished ; though, afterwards, the extent of the voice long
bounded the scale of instruments by which it was accompanied.
Voi,. i. 4 49
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The story of Olympus, however, accounts reasonably for the
continuance of wide intervals in the enharmonic genus ; the. first
scale of which being, according to Plutarch, this :
. y ° • g Mf,m Aj| was certainly a natural and pleasing
melody, though of an antique and melancholy cast. Now according
to this relation, which I firmly think I believe, for
- I'uom suole
Dar facile credenza a quel che vuole,
the Diesis was, at first, inserted into melodies of this kind, as a
sort of accidental grace, though in later times it became essential to
the genus (a). Even at the period when Plutarch wrote his
Dialogue, we find there were old-fashioned players on the flute, who
omitted the division of the semitone, in playing music that was still
reckoned enharmonic; the observation would otherwise have no
meaning.
How this quarter-tone could be managed so as to be rendered
pleasing, still remains a mystery ; yet the difficulty of splitting a
semitone into two equal parts, or even dividing it into more minute
intervals, is less, perhaps, than has been imagined. When it is
practised by a capital singer, or a good performer on the violin, or
hautbois, at a pause, how wide it seems!*
When the Diesis is thus considered as a grace, or a note of taste,
it renders the genus not only conceivable, but practicable; for
~*
then the natural outline ^7~*g»^^ [[ of the Old Enharmonic
still remains in full force upon the ear.
But there are other difficulties concerning the enharmonic, which
this account, in a great measure, clears up. Plutarch expressly
says, p. 162, that among the old artists the enharmonic was solely,
or almost solely, in use, and that "they gave themselves no trouble
about diatonic or chromatic/' And Aristoxenus says the same : his
expression is, that "they had no idea of them." M. Burette would
confine this preference to theorists and writers on the subject ; but
nothing can be clearer than that there was an age when the
enharmonic, some kind of enharmonic, at least, was practically
preferred to the other genera; and it is more than probable that this
age was the early time of music in Greece, when the art was
confessedly in its most simple state ; when music was, according to
(a) The musical reader must recollect the origin of several fashionable licences and innovations
n modem music, which, though used and tolerated at first only as notes of taste and embellishment*
are now become essential to good melody.
* The difficulty of managing the quarter-tone is not so great as Burney imagines. It must be
remembered that he was writing with all the dogmatism of an eighteenth century musician. It is
possible that in the future music will develop by means of using quarter and even other fractions of a
tone. Already music has been written by Haba (influenced by the use of small intervals in Moravian
folk music) employing scales with 24, 18, 36 and 72 degrees to the octave. For interesting informa-
tion about various scale systems see Carl Engel's Music of the most Ancient Nations sad Parry's The
An of Music (chapter II).
Fabio Colonna of Bologna (c. 1567-1650) invented a stringed instrument naming it the Pentaconta
chordon, which divided the octave in 17 parts.
50
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
all the descriptions of Plato, Plutarch, and others, solemn, majestic,
and used for no other than solemn and majestic purposes.
Plutarch expressly says, that the ancients were attached to the
enharmonic, dia ospvoryra, that is, on ''account of its gravity/' The
whole drift of his Dialogue is to apologize for the old musicians, the
very practisers of the enharmonic, upon the score of its simplicity,
and to shew that it proceeded not from ignorance, but from choice.
The chromatic, agreeably to this idea, is every where spoken of
as a more refined and new-fangled thing. Plutarch, p. 140, mentions
a number of old musicians, who purposely abstained from the
chromatic, as if it was a wicked modern innovation. It is mentioned
as such in the curious decree of the Spartans against Timotheus;
nay, it is even said, in the copy of that decree, at the end of the
Oxford Aratus, that "he substituted his chromatic instead of their
enharmonic"; though some translators have omitted these words,
perhaps because they could not conceive how the enharmonic
could possibly be more simple music. A passage in Aristoxenus,
p. 23, seems to admit the same construction ; where, speaking of
the innovators of his time, and their tuning the enharmonic, which
was then expiring, like the chromatic, he says, the reason was, that
they always wanted to ylvxawstv, that is, to put more sugar in their
music.
How can we reconcile all this with the common genealogy of the
genera, 1. Diatonic, 2. Chromatic, 3. Enharmonic? Or with the
general idea of the Enharmonic being the last and almost impractic-
able refinement of the art?
But if, as 'the account of Plutarch says, the simple melody of
Olympus was called Enharmonic, it is at least very natural to
suspect that all this may be meant of that enharmonic, which was
certainly more simple than the Chromatic, and even than the strict
Diatonic, by conjoint degrees ; as the fourth and seventh, the two
notes of the scale that are of the most difficult intonation, were not
admitted into its melodies. The fourth is so aukward an interval,
that it is not only difficult to sound it correctly upon wind instru-
ments, but such as I have observed few natural unguided singers are
able to sing in tune. The same may be said of the seventh, which
in descending, the ear rather requires to be sharp : it seems only for
the sake of the sixth that it is sometimes made flat in minor-keys ;
on which account Rameau considers it merely as a passing-note,
serving only to lead more smoothly to the sixth, and which should
not, properly, be taken account of in the fundamental base.
This suspicion, which is all I shall venture to call it, naturally
therefore presents itself: not that I would willingly lean harder upon
it than it will bear. All the writers agree that the diatonic and
chromatic existed before the enharmonic ; but by the expressions
they use, and by talking of cpvcis, nature (6), they seem to mean
the new and difficult enharmonic, and rather to speak according to
what they thought naturally must have been, than upon any
(*) See Apstox. p. 19, asd Pfot. p. 138.
5*
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
historical certainty concerning a matter so remote, even from the
oldest writer on music, Aristoxenus.
However, setting this suspicion aside, the account given by
Plutarch seems still greatly to help to clear up the mystery; because
it shews us, that even after the introduction of the Diesis, the
enharmonic, by preserving the old Olympic form of the melody,
might still be regarded as more pleasing, natural, and simple, than
the other genera: at least than the chromatic, which, though its
Diesis, or semitone, be in itself easier to form and to sing than the
other, is yet, taking in all circumstances, more unnatural, more
distracting to the ear, more complicated as to the fundamental base,
which guides the ear of modern musicians, than the enharmonic ,
the oefivorys, or gravity, of which, and the simplicity implied in it,
must have consisted, not in the divided semitone, which some
musicians, even in Plutarch's time, we see, omitted, but in the old
favourite Scottish melody, which then subsisted: the quarter-tone
that had crept into it being probably regarded as an accidental
embellishment of the air, which upon the whole was to the ear what
Plutarch, p. 136, calls TQi%oQdov xcu anlow ; that is, "three-stringed,
and simple'' At least it seems more easy to conceive the execution
of the enharmonic possible as mere melody, than the ancient
chromatic, where harmony seems wanting to guide the ear, and
which has the appearance of being both in a major and minor key
at the same time: (1 T^fT r*f If »| g« fl And none of these
•HT * • i — I «
sounds can easily be reduced to mere notes of taste, all are
fundamentally consequential to the harmony, and leave no natural
outline of melody for the ear to seize, like the Enharmonic.
Section III
Of the Modes
A MODE, in ancient music, was equivalent to a Key, in the
modern (a). And Bryennius says in express terms, page
481 (6), that the tones or modes differ from each other in
nothing else but the being situated in a higher or lower pitch of the
voice or instrument ; which is but saying that the modes differed
from each other only by transposition.
Aristoxenus admitted of but thirteen modes, though subsequent
musicians allowed of fifteen ; and this is the number of which
Alypius has given us a diagram in all the three genera.
These are placed by every musical writer, anterior to Ptolemy,
at the distance of half a tone from each other. And as it is generally
agreed that the lowest of the Greek modes, which was called
Hypodorian, had its proslambanomenos, or lowest sound, in that
part of the modern scale which is expressed by A upon the first space
in the base, the following table will convey an idea to the musical
reader of the comparative situation of the rest.
TABLE of the MODES.
Proslam.
Grave
Modes.
Middle and
original
Modes.
Acute
at
*
Tht-
tiypociorian, Hypoiastian,
or Locrian. Hypoionian,
or grave Hy-
pophrygian.
Hypophry- Hypoa?olian, Hypolydian..
gian. or Grave Hy-
polydian
Sste
s
^E
Dorian
Ionian or
lastian.
Phrygian. ^Eolian.
Lydian.
Lorian, Hyperiastian,
lydian. or Hyperio-
nian.
^
Hypeweo-
or lian.
Hyperlydian.
It was with reason that Aristoxenus refused admission to the
two last of the fifteen modes, which are only octaves of the second
and third, as the thirteenth is of the first.
(a) TOPQ?, rpoTTo?, wodvs, mode, tone, and kev, are synonimous terms, both in ancient and
modern music.
(ft) Edit.Wallis.
53
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
A scale of two octaves being allowed to each of these modes,
the whole extent and compass of the fifteen was from Proslainba-
nomenos, in the Hypodorian mode, to Nete hyperbol&on, in the
Hyperlydian, three octaves and a tone, from our A in the base, to
B in the treble
""ft /L
As the keys of C and A natural are representatives of all other
keys in modern music, the scales which have been given, page 41,
to exemplify the Genera, will shew the intervals of the Hypodorian
mode, and serve as types of all other modes admitted into the music
of the ancient Greeks.
Pliny tells us that the three first, and original modes were the
Phrygian, Dorian, and Lydian; so named after the several countries
where they were invented and chiefly used; though Heraclides of
Pontus asserts that the JEolian, Dorian, and Ionian, were of the
most ancient and general use among the first inhabitants of Greece.
However that may have been, it seems probable that the five modes
mentioned by these two authors were in use long before the rest,
which, in process of time, as the musical scale was extended by new
improvements and new instruments, were placed above and below
them, and distinguished by the prepositions vxo and vneQ, under
and upper.
There is a passage in Aristides Quintilianus, p. 23, which seems
to point out something like connection and relation between the
five original modes, and those above and below them. He says,
after having enumerated the fifteen modes, " By this means, each
mode has ^agvr^ra, «at fisooT'rjra, xcu dfvrrjra, its bottom, its middle,
and its top, or its grave, mean, and acute."
This seems to imply that the three modes of DORIAN,
Hypodorian, and Hyperdorian, for instance, were considered, in a
manner, as one: and as if the two modes belonging to each of the
five middle ones, a f ourth above, and a fourth below, were regarded
as necessary adjuncts, without which they were not complete.
Pursuing this idea, if we place the five most ancient and
original modes in the middle, between the lower and the higher
modes of the same name, they will have very much the appearance
of our relative keys in modern music.
Fourth below. Principal. Fourth above.
Hypodorian, DORIAN, Hyperdorian
Hypoiastian, IASTIAN Hyperiastian.
[IONIAN] (Hyperphrygian,
Hypophrygian, PHRYGIAN < or
(Hypermixolydian .
Hypoaeolian -SJoLiAN, Hyperaeolian.
Hypolydian, LYDIAN, Hyperlydian.
54
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
These answer to the following keys in present use :
A, D, G.
B, E, A.
C, F, Bb-
ctf, FJ, B.
And amount to the same thing as our fifth above, and fifth below a
key. Indeed if the ears of the Greeks were not totally different
from ours, these must have been the first and most natural
modulations.
It is worth observing, that though the modes in the diagrams of
Alypius are placed at the '.distance only of half a tone from each
other, yet, in giving the notation of each, he ranks them in the
following order, in all the genera.
LYDIAN, Hypolydian, Hyperlydian.
^EOLIAN, Hypoaeolian, Hyperaeolian.
PHRYGIAN, Hypophrygian, Hyperphrygian.
IASTIAN, Hypoiastian, Hyperiastian.
DORIAN, Hypodorian, Hyperdorian.
It is very remarkable that all the ancient modes or keys were
minor f which must have given a melancholy cast to their melody
in general ; and however strange this may appear, it is as certain as
any point concerning ancient music can be, that no provision was
made for a major-key in any of the ancient treatises or systems that
are come down to us.
But one nation may be prejudiced, by long habit, to a major
scale, another to a minor ; as well as to certain skips in their melody,
like the Scots ; and to a certain measure, like the Poles.
This is not the place to reason upon the subject ; but taking the
fact for granted, it makes the relations of the modes, by fourths,
the more natural. For Tartini's observation seems true, that the
change into the fourth of a minor key is much more agreeable than
into that of a major. Indeed the ancients could scarce have any
other change consistently with their rule of modulation, which says,
that the transition should be by consonant intervals. Now the octave
producing no change, there remains only the fourth or fifth above
or below ; for the third was a dissonant interval in their theory.
It is some satisfaction, however, to find the Greek rules for
modulation, their change, xara tovov, so nearly correspond with our
own. When Ptolemy, page 131 (c] recommends the taking those
keys first that are at consonant distances f and tells us that the
transition from one tone to another next to it, is disagreeable, it
(c) Cap. 9. lib, ii.
55
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
accords very well with our modern doctrine and practice, and with
Rameau's rule for a relative succession of chords. Indeed, there is
a passage in Euclid that is still less equivocal: he says, page 21,
speaking of modulation, "Transitions are made, some by con-
sonant, and some by dissonant intervals ; and of these some are
more, and some less, melodious. The most melodious are those in
which there is most connection ; where the two modes have most in
common: those are less melodious, which have less participation."
He goes on to explain in what this communio consists ; the text is
obscure ; but I think a meaning is discoverable, which has escaped
Meibomius, both in translating, and in commenting, the passage.
Every writer on the subject of music, till the time of Ptolemy,*
regarded the fourth as the first concord, and dividing all the fifteen
modes into tetrachords, regulated the scale in all the genera, by
that interval. But Ptolemy, about the year one hundred and thirty
of the Christian sera, and four hundred and fifty years from the
time in which Aristoxenus flourished, proposed a new doctrine
and reform in the ancient musical system ; in which he reduced the
fifteen modes to seven, and made the diapason, or octave, the
regulator of his scales, not by abandoning the tetrachords, for he
regulated the genera by those intervals in the same manner as his
predecessors ; but in his reduction of the modes he kept them
within the bounds of the octave, and made their number equal to
the species of diapason. The ancient names of Dorian, Hypodorian,
Lydian, Hypolydian, Phrygian, Hypophrygian, and Mixolydian,
he retained, as well as their relative places or distances from each
other ; but it has been misrepresented as his intention to alter the
pitch of all the modes, by raising the Proslambanomenos of each a
fifth higher. The only ground for this opinion is in the eleventh
chapter of his second book, where having occasion to exemplify in
some one octave, the manner in which the Meses of his seven modes
would occupy all its notes, he chose that octave between e and E,
as he says himself, preferably to any other part of the Greek scale,
on account of its convenience ; as it was situated in the middle of the
scale and voice. But there is not the least reason to conclude that
he meant to propose any reform, or to disturb, in this respect, the
established doctrine and practice.
Lemma Rossi, Bontempi, and most of the writers who have
mentioned the modes of Ptolemy, have supposed them to have
* Celebrated as an astronomer and geographer, A Latin translation of the Harmonica was
published by Wallis in 1683. Regarding the introduction of the system attributed to Ptolemy
Professor Wooldridge (Oxford History of Mtfstc, 1901, vol. r, p. 15), says : " Certainly the conception
of the octave as consisting of seven species did not originate even with Ptolemy ; it had existed long
before his time, and had been applied not only to the diatonic but to the enharmonic scale by older
writers in whose works, moreover, the names adopted by Ptolemy for the seven species, which were
those of the seven oldest keys, are also to be found." He goes on to state that in the present state of
our knowledge of Greek music it seems impossible to come to any definite conclusion as to whether
the " doctrine of the species " was more than a theoretical proposition at first, and if more than one
species was actually in use. Again on page 15 he writes : " The diatonic double octave scale is of
course, susceptible of seven different octachordal sections, each of which will display the two semitonic
intervals in a new position and will therefore, if the first note of each section be taken as its final or
key note, create a new and special scale and a special character of melody in each scale,"
56
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
consisted only in different species of octaves in one key (d). But
Dr. Wallis, who has translated into Latin the Harmonics of
Ptolemy, and reduced his modes to modern notes, makes them aH
consist of transpositions of the Dorian mode, which Ptolemy calls
the first, and which Dr. Wallis, after him, has written in the
minor key of A natural, placing it in that part of the scale which
in practice belonged to the Hypodorian.
Dorian.
z
Hypodor. Phrygian. Hypophryg.
367
Bacchius senior (e) places two of these modes, the Hypolydian
and the Lydian, half a tone higher than Dr. Wallis, who seems to
have mistaken their places. The Mixolydian Bacchius makes the
highest of all, then places the Lydian half a tone below it, the
Phrygian a tone below the Lydian, the Dorian a tone below the
Phrygian, the Hypolydian half a tone below the Dorian, the Hypo-
phrygian a tone lower, and the Hypodorian, the lowest of all, a
note below the Hypophrygian.
By the disposition of Ptolemy's modes, it seems as if his design
had been to establish a more easy and obvious connection and rela-
tion between them, than had hitherto been practised ; for though
the modes placed above and below the five principal ones might
have been originally intended as their adjuncts, yet from the
multiplicity and promiscuous arrangement of the modes at the
distance only of a semitone above each other, their intimate rela-
tion and union had not been sufficiently attended to. He therefore
(d) Euclid, and Gaudentius after him, have given seven species of octave in one key, which
however they call by the names of seven of the modes.
Bypodorian,
Meibomius, in his notes on Euclid, p. 59, has given these scales in letters.
(e) Introd Axtis Musicae, Edit Meibom. .p.$M.
57
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
included all his seven modes in the compass of an octave, "making,"
says Dr. Wallis, "the Dorian the center or mean; after which he
placed the Mixolydian a fourth above the Dorian; the Hypolydian
a fifth below the Mixolydian ; and the Lydian a fourth higher than
the Hypolydian. Then, beginning again at the Dorian, he placed
the Hypodorian a fourth below it ; the Phrygian a fifth above the
Hypodorian, and the Hypophrygian a fourth below that." But
this round-about order of the modes is not that of Ptolemy ; for in
his tenth book, chap, ii., the title of which is, How to adjust
accurately the Distances of the Modes, he gives his method of taking
them by fourths and fifths in the only direct and warrantable way
in which they can be taken, according to modern modulation, by
beginning at the Mixolydian: D, A, E, B, F# C# G#. Now if
each of these modes produced seven species of diapason or octave,
the seven modes of Ptolemy would furnish seven times seven, or
forty-nine species of octave ; not indeed all of different kinds, but
of different pitch in the scale. To each of these modes he. assigned
the compass of a disdiapason, or double octave, as was the practice
in the ancient modes ; with this difference, that the first and
characteristic sound in the fifteen modes was Proslambanomenos,
but in those of Ptolemy Mese is made the key note, and the center
of the scale ; which may be supposed to extend an octave above,
and an octave below the sound given in the table.
Such was the general opinion concerning the modes of Ptolemy,
till Sir Francis Haskins Eyles Stiles formed an ingenious hypothesis
concerning them, which was read to the Royal Society in 1759, and
afterwards published in the Philosophical Transactions, vol. LI.
part ii. for 1760, under this title : An Explanation of the Modes or
Tones in the ancient Gracian Music. Sir Francis in this Dissertation
endeavours to prove, that the ancients had a double doctrine of the
modes, an harmonic and a musical doctrine. By the harmonic
doctrine, the modes were all one and the same series of intervals,
such as the general system furnishes, only at different pitches ; by
the musical, they consisted of so many different arrangements of
intervals or species of octave. Sir Francis regarded the harmonic
doctrine as only a tuning trick, to produce more readily the different
species of octave between the fixed sounds (/).
He explains this in a diagram, taking his pitch, according to
Ptolemy, at Hypate Meson, our E in the base, and makes all his
mutations between that sound and its octave, Nete Diezeugmenon.
And this, according to Sir F. E. Stiles, is the diapason chosen by
Ptolemy, cap. 2, lib. ii. for the purpose of exhibiting his divisions
of the several species.
DIAGRAM of the Species of Diapason in the seven Modes admitted
by Ptolemy, according to the Doctrine of Sir Francis Haskins
Eyles Stiles.
(/) His own hypothesis is too complicated and incompressible to be clearly explained here. I
must therefore refer the curious reader to the Memoir itself .
58
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
Mese
Mixolydian.
Lydian.
Phrygian
Dorian.
Hypolydian
Mese
Mese
Key of
D
minor.
B
A
Mese
Hypophrygian. fc^t:
Hypodorian. fc^Ez
*»**
Mese
[» * 0
Sir Francis gives quotations from the ancient Greek writers in
confirmation of his doctrine, several of which indeed seem favour-
able to it ; at least they imply a difference on some occasions from
the intervals in the natural or great system: this difference he
imagines to be expressed by the term pvtafoki), mutation (g).
He very truly asserts, that no transposition of the same melody
into a higher or lower key, can have so powerful an effect as a
change in the modulation, or succession of intervals ; and observes,
that modern music has but two considerable changes in the same
key ; these are from major to minor, and from minor to major. The
first seems reserved for pathetic effects: here he instances PurceTs
happy change of modulation in his Mad Bess, at the words, "Cold
and hungry am I grown (A)."
(;) See Sect IV.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Sir Francis assigns a greater antiquity to the musical doctrine,
than to the harmonic, and refers the effects of the modes in early
times to the former. "We find/' says he, "in Plutarch, Pliny, and
other writers, the invention of particular modes ascribed to
particular musicians ; which may be accounted for, on the sup-
position that the modes were so many different species of diapason,
since it requires great art and skill to introduce agreeable melodies
to which the ear has not been accustomed : but the taking the
same melody at a different pitch, is a variety, for which the inventor
would hardly have had his name so carefully transmitted to
posterity (i)."
Meibomius, however, was certainly of opinion, that the difference
in the modes, upon which all their effects depended, consisted only
in the tension, or acuteness and gravity of the whole system. And
Dr. Wallis saw still less of this doctrine than Meibomius, "though
he has rightly," says Sir Francis, "explained the species of diapason,
as they lay between Hypate Meson and Nete Diezeugmenon ; but
this interpretation he regards as singular in his author, and draws
no consequences from it."
The ascertaining the figure of the earth, by measuring a degree
near the pole and under the line, introduced a new geography ; in
the same manner the hypothesis of Sir Francis Eyles Stiles will
overset all former theories and conjectures on the subject of the
ancient musical modes, and oblige those whom he convinces of the
truth of his doctrine, and who had before reconciled themselves to
received opinions on the subject, to confess their errors and
ignorance, and to begin the study of ancient music anew.
It is not, however, certain that Ptolemy's doctrine was
immediately adopted by all the musicians of his time (&); if it was,
their minds must have been more flexible than those of modern
professors. For had the most popular composers of modern times,
had Alexander Scarlatti, for instance, in Italy, Sebastian Bach, in
Germany, or Handel, in England, proposed to their cotemporaries
so considerable a change in the established musical system, it is
hardly possible to believe that it would have been immediately
received into general practice (I).
We know not, indeed, what was the success of Ptolemy's pro-
posed reformation during his life; a reformation, it must be owned,
that had something Calvinistical in it ; a zeal for tearing (m)', and
yet, strange to tell 1 all the traces to be found of it are in the modes
of the Romish church, established long after, but which resemble
those of Ptolemy in nothing except their number and names.
Ptolemy's modes are manifestly transpositions of the scale into
(*) Phfl. Trans. vol. LI. p. 755.
(ft) Bacchius senior, a musical writer, cotemporary -with Ptolemy, is the only Greek author who
gives but seven modes.
(I) Martianus Capella, who flourished 300 years aiter Ptolemy, and Cassiodorus, a still younger
writer, tell us, that here were fifteen modes • a proof that his reform had not been adopted universally
(m) See Tale of a Tub, Sect. VI.
60
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
different keys* : the ecclesiastic, only different species of octave, in
one and the same key.
Upon the whole, the music so much celebrated by the best
classical writers, and of which I shall have the most frequent
occasions to speak in my history, was of much higher antiquity
than the time of Ptolemy, who flourished when arts and sciences,
particularly those of Egypt and Greece, were much degenerated.
It is therefore of no great importance to the history and
intelligence of ancient music, at its best period, whether this point
concerning the species of octave, for which Sir Francis Eyles Stiles
contends, be accurately settled, or not ; for, if he is right, ^ it does
not clearly appear, what peculiar and astonishing effects could be
produced by a sudden change of mode, which it is not in the power
of modern music to produce, by a like sudden change of key.
But such miraculous powers have been attributed to the modes in
ancient music, that it must be confessed there is nothing so difficult
as to imagine they could have been produced by a mere trans-
position of the scale to a different pitch, while the intervals remained
the same, or even by the effects of modulation. There must have
been other characteristic and strong-marked distinctions: as the
kind of poetry to which the music was set ; the rhythm or measure;
or the nature of certain melodies invented and used by particular
nations. Indeed it was from this last circumstance that the
denominations of the principal modes were derived, such as the
Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Ionian, and Molian ; and there may
perhaps have been originally something strongly characteristic in
the melodies, as well as in the dialects of those countries.
In modern music a change of key, without a change of time, is
not sufficient to animate or depress the spirits much : measure must
concur as an auxiliary ; and mere modulation, though it has its
* The Aristoxenian system of tonoi was, as we have seen, the same scale taken at any convenient
pitch. Aristoxemis was also interested in the seven species of the octave, which was a series of scales
approximating to those which may be formed by using the white keys of the pianoforte. It will be
seen that the fundamental difference between these scales is in the varying positions of the semitones.
In this original system of the seven species of octave the note a was always considered as being the
mese, or dominant.
List of the seven species of octave scales :—
Compass B — b was called the MIXOLYDIAN
„ 0-c „ „ „ LYDIAN
„ D— a „ „ „ PHRYGIAN
E— e „ „ „ DORIAN.
„ F— f „ „ „ HYPOLYDIAN
„ G — g „ „ „ HYPOPHRYGIAN
„ a— a' „ „ „ HYPODORIAN
It will be noticed that these scales differ in quality as well as in pitch.
The system of Ptolemy altered this series in the following manner. To commence with he
advocated that mese should be the fourth note of each of the species, and secondly he reduced the
seven species to the same pitch by means of transposition.
The solution proposed by Sir Francis HasMns Eyles Stiles was adopted by Chappell in his History
of Music, but W. S. Rockstro in Grove's (Vol. 3, Article, Ecclesiastical Modes, p. 476) gives the follow-
ing series of scales which differ from those given on p. 59 :—
DORIAN E— e
PHRYGIAN „ with a key signature of 5 sharps
LYDIAN „ „ „ „ „ 3 »
MIXOLYDIAN „ „ „ „ „ i „
HYPOLYDIAN „ „ „ „ „ 2 „
HYPOPHRYGIAN „ „ „ „ „ 4 *»
HYPODORIAN „ „ „ „ „ i flat
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
effects, yet it can boast of none like those said to have been operated
by a change from the soft Lydian, or grave Dorian, to the furious
Phrygian. I should rather suppose then, that in times of musical
refinement among the ancients, when the characteristics of national
melody were somewhat effaced, the names of the musical modes
had much the same use as our technical terms, grazioso, grave,
allegro, con furia : and that in lyric poetry there were particular
species of feet and versification allotted to each mode. If that was
the case, we might easily suppose that a change of mode would be
a change of style and of measure (ri). This seems a very natural
idea, and yet it has never been suggested by any of the writers who
have treated the subject, and who have been so willing to allow
miraculous powers to the Greek modes, except one, Teodato Osio,
who, in a very ingenious little tract, published in Milan, 1637, called
Uarmonia del nudo parlare, has something like the same idea,
which he slightly mentions, however, with a perhaps, per aventura.
Speaking of the Mixolydian mode, he says, "I have often thought
that it might have resembled the trochaic foot ; as the Phrygian
might the Anapest ; the Hypophrygian, the Iambic ; the Hypo-
dorian, the Dactyl ; and the Doric gravity might likewise have been
expressed by the sluggish spondee (0)."
Indeed the ancients frequently speak of the Phrygian and Lydian
modes, in terms which seem to imply different measures. Heraclides
of Pontus, in Athenaeus, lib. xiv. p. 614, describing what he calls
the three most ancient modes, says "the Dorian is grave and
magnificent, neither too diffusive, gay, nor varied ; but severe and
vehement. The JEolian is grand and pompous, though sometimes
soothing, as it is used for the breaking of horses, and the reception
of guests ; and it has likewise an air of simplicity and confidence,
suitable to pleasure, love, and good cheer. Lastly, the ancient
Ionian is neither brilliant nor effeminate, but rough and austere ;
with some degree, however, of elevation, force, and energy. But in
these times," continues he, "since the corruption of manners has
subverted every thing, the true, original, and specific qualities
peculiar to each mode are lost (p)."
Apuleius, in his Florida, tells us that the Lydian measure was
appropriated to complaint and songs of sorrow ; the Dorian to
martial airs ; and that the Phrygian was consecrated to religious
ceremonies ; distinctions which seem to imply time as well as tone.
But after all that has been said, it would, perhaps, be more for the
honour of the ancients to suppose some of the principles upon which
(n) Morley, and all the old writers upon modem music, before the use of bars, affixed no other
meaning to the modes or moods, as they were then called, than that of regulators of time, or measure.
(o) Onde il color misso-Lidio si sara simigliante al piede Trochco ; cost come awisai VAnapesto
confarsi col frigio, e forse con ripofrisio il Giambo ; ma con il subdorio si confara il Dattilot ed alia
Gravita del JDorio la tardansa dello Spondee sara convenient*. P. 184. See a notation of these feet,
Sect. VI.
(p) Heraclides of Pontus was cotemporary with Plato and Aristotle, and the disciple of both.
He was a voluminous writer upon music, as well as upon many other subjects ; his works are frequently
cited by Plutarch, and, with the Records of Sicyon, and Registers of the Victors at the sacred Games, seem
to have been the phjef sources whence he drew the historical part of his Diahgu* on Music.
62
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
their modes were formed, and concerning which such surprising
accounts have been given, to be lost, than to endeavour to reduce
them all to our present keys and practice of melody. For, with the
few liberties that could be taken with poetical numbers, and the
little probability there is that counterpoint was known to them, if
we do not give the ancients credit for arts of expression and
modulation, which have not been clearly explained in the treatises
that are come down to us, and which we are now utterly unable to
divine, their music will be reduced to such a low degree of perfection,
as nothing but blind enthusiasm for every thing ancient can
disguise, or deny.
Section IV
Of Mutations
THE next subject of enquiry to the Genera and Modes of
ancient music, is that of the Mutations, ^rafto^ai, or changes
incident to melody ; which, in modern music, we should
call, upon some occasions, modulation. However, the terms are
not exactly synonymous ; for though to modulate, and to sing, are
in ancient authors equivalent, as modulation with them signified
merely a change in melody, yet the moderns more frequently apply
the term modulation to that kind of change in melody or harmony,
which introduces a new key. For modulation may be brought about
by changes in harmony, while melody is stationary.
1_I
Key of C a F
F f
r j
eqiv
In the system of solmization established upon the hexachords of
Guido, mutations mean such changes only as are occasioned in the
names of the notes by accidental flats and sharps.
The ancients however had four several kinds of accidents in
their music that were distinguished by the name of mutations.
These might have happened in the genus, system, mode, or
melopoeia. In the Genus, when the melody passed from one genus
to another, from the chromatic, for instance, to the diatonic, or
enharmonic, and the contrary. In the System, when the
modulation passed from a conjunct to a disjunct tetrachord ; that is,
from one that was united to another by some one sound in common
to both : as from this
to one that was
wholly disjunct, and separated from it by the interval of a tone :
a mutation happened in the Mode, when there was a transition
in the melody from the Dorian to the Lydian, or Phrygian, and
the like ; and lastly, a mutation in the Meloposia implied a change
of style; as from a grave to a gay, or from a sober to an impetuous
strain. If the mutations were too sudden and unrelative, they
destroyed the impression made upon the ear by the former part of
the melody, and the pleasure arising from reminiscence. " The
04
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
understanding music/' says Aristoxenus (a), "depends upon
sensation and memoiy; for we must not only feel sounds at the
instant they strike the organ, but remember those with which it has
been struck before, in order to be able to compare them together; for
otherwise it will be impossible to follow a melody or modulation with
pleasure to the ear, or to form a judgment of its degree of excellence
in the mind."
The terms peloe and pelcodias, which Meibomius has rendered
by the Latin words, modulatio and cantilena, had no other significa-
tion than the change of sounds in singing, or, as we should call it,
melody ; and this is clear from a passage in Bacchius senior (6),
where, in his Introduction to the Art of Music, by Question and
Answer, it. is asked, how many kinds of modulation there are.
He answers, four; and these, he says, are rising, falling, repeating
the same sound to different words, and remaining upon, or holding
out, a musical tone. This is farther explained, Sect V.
Euclid says that mutations may be made into any mode within
the compass of an octave, at the .distance even of a semitone (c).
This is a latitude of modulation that would greatly offend modern
ears, accustomed only to relative changes of key. Ptolemy, however,
does not allow of such sudden and extraneous modulations.
There is something like a specimen of Greek modulation in
Plutarch's Diaiogue^ (d). If the modes are rightly placed by the
moderns, the beginning or first movement of the piece he mentions,
was in A; then it passed to E and B, and ended in G (e) and D. This
Lib. i. p. 38 and 30. Edit. Meibom.
(&) P. ii. Edit. Meib.
(c) M. Burette is mistaken in his translation of this precept in Euclid, which he has taken from
the version of Meibomius, who has likewise either mistaken, or misprinted the passage. Instead of
>7uiroi/ias, half a tone, they have both given Diesis, a quarter of a tone, as an allowable modulation
which is not only contrary to the text, but impossible in practice. Vide Euclid, Edit. Meib. p. 20, at
the bottom. .
(d) Mem. des Inscrip. torn. x. p. 160.
(e) Handel is the only one that I know of who has hazarded a modulation from B to G with a
flat tiiird ; a passage of this kind occurs in the last act of the Oratorio of Athalia, which is so bold and
wonderfully happy in expressing the words, that I shall insert it here as a great stroke of the composer,
as well as of musical imitation. Athalia is relating a dream which she had had just before the execution
of that conspiracy, which put an end to her tyranny and life.
RECITATIVE.
Vor,. i. 5
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
would be tolerable ; but the vopos TQtfisQ^, or three part song,
mentioned by Plutarch, p. 124, which, it seems, consisted in singing
three strophes successively, the first in the Dorian mode, D, the
second in the Phrygian, E, and the third in the Lydian, F sharp,
rising a tone each time, would be in the highest degree offensive to
modern ears.
And yet, Athenaeus speaks of a similar feat performed by Pytha-
goras, the Zacynthian, upon the lyre ; and Pausanias, of one by
Pronomus, the Theban, upon a flute, which he had invented for
all these three modes. But upon these occasions, what must have
become of their rule for preferring transitions by consonant
intervals? We must suppose that these unrelative mutations were
very old tricks.
And yet we must not condemn them too hastily; for we find
the old church composers, in the early .days of counterpoint,
neglecting the modern rules of relation, or rather not knowing them,
and taking, fearlessly, two, or more perfect chords of the same
kind, diatonically, using every note in the scale, except the seventh,
as a fundamental base (/).
This is, doubtless, the true secret of ancient church music, and
the principal cause of its effect, so widely different from that of
modern compositions ; an effect compounded of solemnity, wildness,
and melancholy.
(/) Palestrina begins his Stabat Mater, which is still used in the pope's chapel, and printed in the
music performed there during Passion week, by three successive common chords, with sharp thirds, to
this base A G F, descending, diatonically ; and yet this modulation is so qualified by the disposition of
the parts, and tempered by the perfect manner in which it is sung, that though it looks unscientific
and licentious upon paper, its effects, of which no idea can be acquired from Keyed instruments, are
admirable*
Section V
Of M.elopoda
THE rules concerning the different parts of ancient music that
have been already described, lead naturally to the subject
of Melopoeia, for which they were at first established.
MeAos, melos, consisted of a number of musical sounds of a
certain pitch of voice, opposed to noise, or the unfixed and evan-
escent tones of common speech.
MsXcodta, melody, was the singing of poetry, to such sounds : and
Mshonoiia, melopoeia, the composition, or arrangement, of such
sounds as were fit for song.
These several definitions shew that all melody was originally
vocal, and applied to poetry.
Melopoeia had its particular rules, several of which are come
down to us, and are still clear and intelligible: such as that an
air, or piece of melody, should be composed in some particular
Genus, and be chiefly confined to the sounds of some certain Mode.
As to the succession, or order of these sounds in the course of the
air, that was in general confined to four kinds, which Euclid specifies
in his Harmonic Introduction (a). These I shall endeavour to
describe with exactness, as they may throw some light upon ancient
melody.
Euclid tells us, first, that sounds may move either ascending or
descending regularly, as thus:
which was called aycoyy ; secondly, by leaps of greater intervals
than a second : thus, which was called
3tloxi], interwoven: thirdly, by repeating the same sound several
times, which was called nerrsta, iteration : as in singing these notes
and fourthly, that sounds may be sustained in the same tone, which
we call a holding note, and which the Greeks expressed by the
word
Thus far seems intelligible ; but I cannot help thinking that the
third book of Aristoxenus, which is chiefly employed in laying
(a) P. 22, Edit. Meibom.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
down rules for the immediate succession of sounds in a scale, has
been misrepresented, as containing rules for the composition of
melody in general.
He says, indeed, p. 66, "that after a semitone the voice can only
go two ways up, and two ways down" ; that is, by a tone, or another
semitone. This is true in the order of the scale ; but was all melody
confined to that order? And is there any doubt whether from a
semitone it might not go by a leap to a third, fourth, or fifth, above
or below? M. Burette, however, in his notes upon Plutarch, where
the enharmonic of Olympus, and the beauty of its melody are
mentioned, says, the beauty must lie in the novelty, and the novelty
was the Ditone, or major third, "which was never heard in the
other Genera." What! was the Diatonic so strictly confined to a
progress by conjoint degrees, as never to be permitted to skip a
note, in order to ascend or descend by the interval of a third?
Nothing can be so strange as this assertion, or so contrary to the
passage just quoted from Euclid, which M. Burette has elsewhere
translated and adopted (&), and indeed to the definition of the term
nloxv), in all subsequent Greek writers upon music, down to
Bryennius.*
But M. Burette is not wholly singular, I find, in his opinion upon
this subject, as Dr. Brown seems to have had the same idea ; for in
his Progress of Poetry, &c, p. 64, he says, that the Greek Diatonic
is "utterly incompatible with our Diatonic scale; because there one
semitone, and two tones, must succeed each other invariably." Mr.
Malcolm is as obscure and unsatisfactory, as usual, upon this
subject ; and leaves it, at least, as unintelligible as he found it.
But the denying or doubting of one of the few facts upon which
ancient writers have expressed themselves clearly, is joining in the
conspiracy with time, which has already rendered the study of
Greek music sufficiently hopeless and desperate, to repress the
courage of the boldest enquirer.
There were many rules to be observed in moving by leaps, or
disjunct degrees, the principal of which was to prefer, in general,
consonant to dissonant intervals. It was likewise enjoined not to
divide any two semitones into quarter tones, together, or two
successive tones into semitones (c), nor were two major thirds to
follow each other.
But these, and a great number of other rules laid down by
Aristoxenus, with respect to the succession of intervals, were all
derived from the genera, the rules for which were rules for melody.
The Diatonic genus of the ancients resembled our natural scale in
every particular ; and it is allowed by Aristoxenus even that three
tones may succeed each other, ascending or descending, which is
all that is allowable in our Diatonic, except in minor keys, where
(&) Mem. des Inscrip. torn. v. p. 178.
(c) The prohibition of more than, two !
clear proof that the ancient chromatic
* Circa A.D. 1320. His chief work, Harmonics, was really a digest of tracts by earlier writers.
(c) The prohibition of more than two semitones succeeding each other at a time, rising or falling,
is a clear proof that the ancient chromatic was very different from the modern.
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
we ascend to the octave of the key note by a sharp seventh, which
the ancients seem never to have admitted.
A further detail or explanation of these rules, would not make
the matter much clearer ; however, there are some particulars
collected together in the first book of Aristides Quintilianus (d),
that seem to merit attention.
He sets off by dividing Melopoeia into three species, taken from
the great and general system, which he names after the sounds called
Hypate, Mese, and Nete ; that is, lowest, middle, and highest ; and
these denominations resembled, with respect to melody, our distinc-
tions of base, tenor, and treble.
With regard to modulation in melody, he has the same
distinctions as Euclid for the several species, though he differs a
little from him in his manner of defining them; but these differences
are of small importance to us now ; and indeed the authority of
Euclid is so superior to that of Aristides Quintilianus, that nothing
which can be cited from him would have weight sufficient to
invalidate the testimony of so exact and respectable a writer.
However, the moral distinctions of Melopoeia to be found in
Aristides Quintilianus are so curious and fanciful, that I shall insert
a few of them here.
He allows of three modes (rgonoi) or styles of Melopoeia; the
Dithyrambic, or Bacchanal ; the Nomic, consecrated to Apollo ;
and the Tragic; and acquaints us that the first of these modes
employed the strings, or sounds, in the middle of the great system;
the second, those at top ; and the third, those at the bottom.
These modes had other subaltern modes that were dependent on
them ; such as the Erotic, or amorous ; the Comic ; and the
Encomiastic, used in panegyrics. All these being thought proper to
excite or to calm certain passions, were, by our author, imagined
to have had great influence upon the manners, (*;#?/) ; and, with
respect to this influence, Melopoeia was divided into three kinds:
first, the Systaltic, or that which inspired the soft and tender
passions, as well as the plaintive, or, as the term implies, such as
affect and penetrate the heart ; secondly, the Diastaltic, or that
which was capable of exhilerating, by kindling joy, or inspiring
courage, magnanimity, and sublime sentiments : thirdly, the
Hesuchastic, which held the mean between the other two, that is,
which could restore the mind to a state of tranquility and
moderation.
The first kind of Melopoeia suited poetical subjects of love and
gallantry, of complaint and lamentation : the second was reserved
for tragic and heroic subjects: the third for hymns, panegyrics,
and as a vehicle of exhortation and precept (e).
(d) P. 28 and 29. Edit. Meibom.
(e) These imaginations are evidently drawn from the dreams of Pythagoras. lamblicus, in the
life of that philosopher, tells us that " he had invented certain musical airs, with which, by a happy
mixture of genera, he could, at his pleasure, govern the passions of his scholars, and awaken terror,
melancholy, anger, compassion, emulation, fear, and desires of all kinds ; as well as stimulate appetite,
pride, caprice, and vehemence ; guiding each affection according to virtue, with suitable melodies, as
with so many salutary and healing medicines." And Plutarch, in his Discourse on the Cessation of
Oracles, says, that poetry set to music, was once the current language of Greece, and the vehicle of
history, philosophy, and of every important subject.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
All these rules concerning the ancient Melopoeia afford only
general notions, which, to be rendered dear an.d intelligible, would
require particular discussions, as well as illustrations by example ;
but the Greek writers on music have absolutely denied us that
satisfaction, reserving, perhaps, when they published their works,
all such minutia for the lessons which they gave their scholars in
private ; for in no one of the seven treatises upon ancient music,
collected and published by Meibomius, is a single air, or passage
of Greek melody, come down to us ; which is the more extra-
ordinary, as there are few treatises upon modern music, without
innumerable examples in notes, to illustrate the precepts they
contain.
But whatever were the rules for arranging different sounds in
such order as would flatter the ear in the most agreeable manner,
it is easy to imagine that this regular disposition, and beautiful
order of sounds, constituted nothing more than the mere body of
melody, which could only be animated and vivified by the
assistance of Rhythm, or Measure: and this will be discussed in
the next section.
70
Section VI
Of Rhythm
A CONTINUED motion in every organized body that is capable
of it, is susceptible of some kind of measure. This measure
marks the several parts of motion, and enables us to judge
of their proportions. It is to point out these proportions that the
Greeks, among many other terms, have made use of Qv&poe, Rhythm,
which they have applied to different purposes. They have not only
expressed by it the kind of cadence, or vibration of the wings, in
the flight of birds ; the movement of the feet in the progressive
motion of animals ; and the gestures, figures, and steps of dancers;
but every species of regular motion, such as is observable in the
beating of the pulse, and in respiration. They have even abused
the original import of the word so far, as to apply it to things
absolutely motionless and inanimate ; such as works in painting and
sculpture, in which they have called that symmetry and just propor-
tion which reigns in all parts by the name of Rhythm.
But the most common application of this term has been to
express the Time or duration of many sounds heard in succession:
whether these sounds are musical, and such as are produced by
voices and instruments, or without any determinate tone, as in the
strokes of a hammer upon an anvil; in the beating of a drum; and
in the articulations of the voice in common speech, in repeating
poetry, or pronouncing an oration.
But our enquiries here shall be confined to that species of
Rhythm, which more particularly concerns melody, and which
merits discussion the more, on account of its great importance m
music, and of the darkness in which it is usually involved by
writers on the subject.
From the strict union of poetry and music among the ancients,
which seem to have been almost inseparable, an offence against
Time or Rhythm was unpardonable, as it not only destroyed the
beauty of the poetry, but sometimes even the meaning of the
words of which it was composed, To nav actQa povoixois 6 $v&posf
say the Greeks ; it was the principal point in their music, without
which they regarded melody as wholly unmeaning and lifeless.
Hence Plato refused the title of musician to every one who was not
perfectly versed in Rhythm, as we should now to a bad Timeist.
It is of such importance, that, without it, music can have no power
over the human passions. Pythagoras, according to Martianus
Capella, used to call Rhythm, in music, the male, and Melos the
.7*
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
female ; and Doni (a) has compared Rhythm with design, in
painting, and Melos to colouring. It is certain that an ordinary-
melody, in which the time is strongly marked, and the accents are
well placed, has more effect than one that is deficient in those
particulars, though more refined and uncommon, and set off with
all the richness of harmony, and learning of modulation.
Isaac Vossius, in his Dissertation, de Poematum Cantu, et
viribus Rhythmi, has attributed to Rhythm all the miraculous
powers of ancient music.
As vocal music was chiefly cultivated among the ancient Greeks,
the first part of these rhythmical observations shall be confined to
lyric poetry.
Aristides Quintilianus defines musical Rhythm ovonjpa ex xeovcov
xa-ta tiva ra£w ovyxewsvcov (b). "The assemblage of many parts
of time, which preserve a certain proportion to each other"; which,
since the use of bars in music, may be called aliquot parts of a
measure, or a given portion of time. For the better understanding
of this definition, it is necessary to remember that the music in
question was constantly sung to verses, the words of which were all
composed of long and short syllables; that the short syllable was
pronounced as quick again as the long, and the short syllable being
regarded as one part or portion of this measure, the long was equal
to two : so that, consequently, the sound which was applied to the
long syllable, was equal in duration to two such sounds as were
sung to short syllables, or, in other words, that one note was equal
to two portions of time, and the other to one. It must likewise be
remembered that the verses thus sung, were composed of a certain
number of feet, formed by these long and short syllables differently
combined, and that the Rhythm of the melody was regulated by
these feet ; as, whatever was their length, they were always divided
into two parts, equal or unequal, the first of which was called &QOIS,
elevation, and the second foots, depression (c). In like manner the
Rhythm of the melody, corresponding with these feet, was divided
into two parts, equal or unequal, the first of which was called the
down and up parts of a bar, expressed by beating down the hand or
foot, and lifting it up. Thus far concerns vocal Rhythm ; what
follows belongs to instrumental.
As the notes of ancient music were constantly written over
each syllable of the verses which were to be sung ; as the quantity
of each of these syllables was perfectly known to musicians ; and
as the duration of each sound was regulated by the syllables; it did
not seem necessary that the time should be marked by any par-
ticular sign or character. However, for the ease and convenience
of the musician, a canon, or rule, was given of the Rhythm at the
beginning of a lyric poem. This canon consisted of nothing but
the numbers 1 and 2, that is, the Alpha and Beta of the Greek
alphabet, disposed according to the order of the breves and longs
(a) Tom. ii. p. 203. (b) Lib. L p. 31. Edit. Meibom.
* ^ ^ ^A &* m P06*1^ seeEas to answer to a bar in music. A time, among the ancients, was a portion
of that foot or bar ; as, mth us, a bar is divided into accented and unaccented parts.
72
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
which cpmposed and divided each verse, according to the number
of its feet. The Alpha, or unit, marked a breve, because it con-
tained only one portion of time ; and the Beta, or binary, marked
a long, being equal to two portions. Some of these poetical, or
rhythmical canons, are still to be found in the Manual of
Hephaestion (d).
Rhythm in Latin was called numerus ; and this term, in process
of time, was extended to the melody itself, subjected to certain
numbers or rhythms, as appears from this line of Virgil :
Numeros memini, si verba tenerem :
If I knew the words, I could remember the tune well enough. The
Romans had signs for rhythm, as well as the Greeks ; and these
signs were not only called numerus, but cera, that is, number, or
the mark for time. Numeri nota, says Nonius Marcellus. In this
sense we find the word used in a verse of Lucilius :
HCBC est ratio? perversa &ra! summa subducta improbe?
Do you call that settling accounts'? such a confusion of figures? and
the sum falsely cast up?
Though the word &ra was at first only applied by musicians to
the time, or measure of the melody, they afterwards made the same
use of it as of numerus, to express the tune or melody itself ; and
it has been thought that the word Air, or, as the Italians call it,
Aria, which includes a certain piece of music of a peculiar rhythm,
or cadence, is derived from cera.
Such was the manner in which the ancients marked the measure
in their written music ; but to make it still more sensible in the
execution, they beat time in several different ways. The most
common was by the motion of the foot, which was lifted up and
beat down alternately, according to what we call common, or triple
time. To regulate the time was generally the office of the music
master or director, called PSOOZOQOS and xogvyouos, coryphaeus,
because he was placed in the middle of the orchestra, among the
musicians, and in an exalted and conspicuous situation, in order
to be seen and heard the more easily by the whole band.
The directors of the time were likewise called in Greek nodoxTvno*
and fftodoyjoyoi, from the noise of their feet. In Latin they were
called pedarii, podarii, and pedicularii, for the same reason. Their
feet were generally furnished with wooden or iron sandals, in order
to mark the time in a more distinct manner : these implements the
Greeks called xQovyte£ia, xQova&a, xQovjcera / and the Latins pedicula
scabella, or scabilla, because they resembled little pattens or clogs.
But it was not only with the feet that the ancients beat the time,
but with all the fingers of the right hand upon the hollow part of
the left ; and he who marked the time or rhythm in this manner,
was called manu-ductor. For this purpose they sometimes used
oyster-shells, and the shells of other fish, as well as the bones of
animals, in beating time, as we .do of castanets, tabors, &c. Both
Hesychius, and the scholiast of Aristophanes, furnish passages to
(d) This author lived in the time of the emperor Verus, in the second century. He was a gram-
marian of Alexandria. The work alluded to is de re Metrica. Suidas, Jul. Capitolinus.
73
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
confirm this assertion. What a noisy and barbarous music! All
rhythm, and no sound. The drums and sistrums of the Idsei Dactyli
could not have been more savage.
Many ancient instruments were monotonous, and of little use,
but to mark the measure ; such were the cymbalum and sistrum.
But it would afford us no very favourable idea of the abilities of
modern musicians, if they required so much parade and noise in
keeping together. The more time is beaten, says M. Rousseau, the
less it is kept ; and, in general, bad music, and bad musicians,
stand in most need of such noisy assistance.
^ However, if any thing like the power which ancient music is
said to have had over the passions can be credited, it must have
derived this power chiefly from the energy and accentuation of
the rhythm. Aristides Quintilianus (e) gives a long list of different
metres, with their several properties of calming or agitating the
mind, according to the nature of the syllables, or feet of the verses,
as w^ll as the sentiments which they were intended to express; and
as it will afford the reader an opportunity of seeing how much stress
was laid on this part of music, and how fanciful and ideal many of
the distinctions seem to have been, I shall give the whole passage
in English.
"Measure, which begins by a down part of the metrical division,
is calm and gentle ; whereas that which begins by an up part,
expresses trouble and agitation. Full time, that is, composed of
intire feet, is noble in its effect ; and that arising from catalectic
verses, deficient in a syllable or note, if it be supplied by a short
rest or pause, has more simplicity, but is less noble. Time of
equal proportions, is graceful ; and that of odd numbers, or
sesquialterate proportion, is more proper to excite commotion (f)
Double time is a kind of mean betwixt the graceful and the turbulent.
Among the movements of two even notes, if they are short, their
effect is lively, impetuous, and proper for military .dances, called
Pyrrhics, in which the dancers are armed ; and time, of which the
movement is regulated by poetic feet composed of long syllables, is
more grave, serious, and fit for hymns which are sung in honour
of the gods, at festivals, and in sacrifices: the measure composed of
a mixture of long and short notes, participates of the qualities of
both these last mentioned."
"Among the duplicate proportions, the Iambic and Trochaic
^ the most vivacity and fire, and are peculiarly proper for
'
dancing. Those called 'oe&ioi and owavroi, of which the Arsis
answers to two long syllables, are full of dignity. Compound
measures are more pathetic than simple ; and such as are confined
(e) Lib. ii. p. 97. Edit Meibom.
(/) The reader should here be informed, that, besides our common and triple time, they had
measures of s,.and of 7 qual notes in a bar ; circumstances which must appear very exSaordmarv to
modem musicians. By double time, Arist. Quint, means triple time, that £ i w2ch S SSS^art
of tae bar was to the up, as 2 to i ; or in which one time of the bar was double to the other . So common
time they called 4*4 because the bars admitted a division into two equal parts. In the same
manner, the measure of 5 notes in a bar, was called Sesquialter, that is, of a to 3 : and that of 7 notes!
££^<*,OTof3to4,fwmthebaMbefcg<E^^ ana msw; or 7 notes,
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
to one genus, move the passions much less than those which pass
from one genus to another (g)."
After giving these characteristics of time, Aristides proceeds to
prove their reality and foundation in nature, by drawing a parallel
between some particular species of Rhythm, and the gait and
actions of man. He pretends, for instance, "that the motion which
answers to the Spondaic measure, is a sign of moderation and
fortitude ; that Trochaics, or Paeans, indicate a greater .degree of
fire and vivacity ; that the Pyrrhic has something low and ignoble
in it ; that an irregular velocity implies dissoluteness and disorder ;
and finally, that a movement resulting from all these, is wild and
extravagant."
With respect to the excellence and effects of ancient music, it
is very difficult to steer between the extremes of credulity and
scepticism. Such enthusiasts as Aristides Quintilianus, by
asserting too much, have thrown a ridicule upon the subject, and
inclined us, perhaps, to believe too little. The simplicity of ancient
melody, and its slavish dependence upon poetry, may probably
have given birth to some of these fancies. But however that may
have been, this seems the place in which to give some account of
those poetic feet, and Rhythms, upon which the ancients laid so
much stress. For, that they thought the knowledge of poetical
feet, and even rhetorical, necessary to a musician, is certain from
the pains that have been taken, especially by Roman musical
writers, to explain them in all the treatises that are come down
to us.
A poetical Foot consists of a certain number of syllables, which
constitutes a distinct part of a verse, as a Bar does of an air in
music. An Hexameter verse consists of six of these feet, a
Pentameter of five.
The Spondee, Iambus, Trochee, and Pyrrhic or Periambus, are
dissyllabic feet, or of two syllables each.
The Spondee consists of two long syllables (h), as
vertunt.
An Iambic foot has one short and one long
syllable (i). Oeov, lsya>. potensf amas. ""
The Trochee has one long and one short syllable, as
gratus, musa. " "
return.
silent.
(g) The French seem to have had this precept in view in composing their old serious operas, in
which the time is for ever changing.
(h) There is no true Spondee in the English language, as every word of two syllables has an accent
L the first or second syllable, which renders it longer than the other. The ancient Spondean or
. * ^y Olympus i ^ ^' * ~ *' '•-— •
libation air composed by Olympus in the Old Enharmonic, without the quarter tone, was, however,
in this measure, consisting of slow even notes, and the foot derived its name from this use of it
(t) Iambic verses were originally used in satire, with which they are often synonymous in ancient
authors.
75
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The Pyrrhic, or Periambus, two short syllables, as
mare, pro bus. w °
quiver (k).
The Dactyl, Anap&st, Molossus, Tribrach, Bacchius, Anti-
bacchius, Amphibrachys, and Creticus, are Trissyllabics, or of three
syllables. To some of these we have no equivalents ; however, the
Dactyl, consisting of one long and two short syllables ~uu
is very common in our language, as tenderly,
hastily; and we have verses composed of dactyls as well as the
Greeks and Romans:
My j banks they are j furnish'd with | bees,
Whose | murmur in- | vltes one to | sleep.
These may be compared with the following celebrated passages
in Homer and Virgil, where the sound is manifestly and intention-
ally, an echo to the sense. Homer, (Odyssey, book xi) after he
has described in labouring Spondees the slow and painful manner
in which Sysiphus rolled the stone up-hill, makes use of nimble
Dactyls in describing its swift descent:
ejreiTO. jreSovSe /cuXivfiero Aaa; ai/cu8>js.
And Virgil, lib. viid. v 596, describes in pure Dactyls the
galloping of the horse :
- It clamor, ei agmtne f'dcfo
Quddrupedante putrlm somfa qualit unguld cawpum.
The Anapaest has two short and one long syllable ; as sapiens,
recubans,""~ (I J J|f || Isaac Vossius, de Viribus Rhythmi,
p. 56, has said that the French have no Dactyls, nor the English
a perfect Anap&st in their language. Let the French speak for
themselves ; but as to our own part of the charge, it is easily
confuted by the mere mention of the words recommend and
disappoint.
I shall enumerate the rest of the poetic feet of the ancients,
merely to shew what resources they had in varying their melody
by different combinations of two kinds of notes.
The Molossus has three long syllables, """
The Tribrach, three short, uuu
(k) In our language, though it iTgoverned almostTentirely by Accent, an accented and a long
syllable are by no means to be confounded, at least in setting words to music. Mr. Stillinfifleet
Principles and Power of Harmony, has given the word level as a Trochaic, that is, a word in which thi
first syllable is long, the second short ; but Trochaics in English seem to be such words as silent
charming, kindred ; and level, revel, quiver, river, correspond more exactly with the Pyrrhic or Periam-
bus of the ancients, being composed of two short syllables.
76
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
;hius, which is the reverse of
has one short, and two long syllables,
The Antibacchius, two long and one short,
The Bacchius, which is the reverse of the Dactyl, f «»
°~~ y ^ '
Amphibrachys, one short, one long, and one short, -/f ,
or one lon between two short a~M .17
or one long between two short,
Creticus, one short between two long, ~u~ (a) F II T
The Quadrisyllables are compounded of feet already mentioned.
The Proceleusmaticus is composed of four short ^p ___
syllables, or or two Pyrrhics, wwww ft> T T f T
The Choriambus, two short between two long, or -f p m*^*-*
the junction of the Trochaus and Iambus, ~"v~ ft iT I 1 * =1 '
Epitrite ; of this foot there are four species: 1. the Iambus and
Spondee ° : 2. the Trochee and Spondee ~°~~: 3. the Spondee
and Iambus ~""°~: and 4. the Spondee and Trochee w.
The Paan or Jteow, wMch is the contrary of this last, consists of
one long syllable, and three short :
Servius reckons more than a hundred different kinds of verse
among the Latins ; and, according to Hephaestion, the number
was still more considerable among the Greeks ; consequently their
melody might have been varied in as many different ways. There
is not, however, the least appearance of the ancients having had
. in their vocal music that kind of. measure which we call pointed ;
nor did they admit rests in the middle of a verse, though at the
end of catalectic, or broken verses, the singer was allowed to make
up the deficiency by a silence, equivalent to a rest in modern music;
and though they had so great a variety of feet in their poetry, many
of those already instanced are unfit for modern melody.
After all the researches which I have been able to make, it must
be acknowledged that the subject of ancient music, in general, still
remains, and probably ever will remain, involved in much difficulty
and uncertainty. It is fortunate, however, for those who wish to
view as near as possible this dark angle of antiquity, that the
prospect happens to be the clearest just in that part where all its
admirers assure us it is best worth examining ; for however
ignorant we may be of the Melody of ancient music, the Rhythm,
or time of that melody, being regulated entirely, as has been already
observed, by the metrical feet, must always be as well known to
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
us as the prosody and construction of the verse ; so that we have
nothing to do but to apply to the long and short syllables any two
notes, one of which is double the length of the other, in order to
know as exactly as if we heard, in what manner any particular
kind of metre was set by the ancients with respect to Time and
Cadence, that boasted Rhythm, which we are so often told was
every thing in their music. It may therefore afford some gratifica-
tion to the curiosity of those who have never considered the poetry
of the ancients in this point of view, if I produce a few examples,
which will, perhaps, help to throw a little light upon the dramatic
music of the Greeks, and give some idea of the rhythmical resources
of the poet-musician in one of the most interesting provinces of
his art.
The first example shall be of the Iambic verse, which chiefly
prevails in the Greek tragedies, and in which the dialogue and
soliloquy, indeed all but the chorus or ode, were generally written.
I shall content myself with applying notes of correspondent lengths
to the syllables, and marking the time ; leaving the Melody to the
imagination of the reader. Should I presume to supply it, I might
expect to be reproached as another Salmoneus for my temerity.
Demensl qui nimbos et non imitabile fulmen, &c. (Z).
ist Foot 23 456
P HP r IV r| p
'H-
Ai-irwv tv* 'A | 8175 X"P*k » 1 K** rat 0* «v, | &C. (*w).
These lines are the beginning of the Hecuba of Euripides, and
were sung by the ghost of Polydorus (n). The bars in the verse are
(J) Salmoneus was a king of Elis
Who mock'd with empty sounds and mimic rays,
Heav'ns awful thunder, and the lightning's blaze.
PITT'S Virg. Book vi.
(m) This measure when pure and unmixt, consisted of six Iambic feet, as
eques \ sonan \tever\ bera \bit un\ gula.
Such verses, however, seldom occur. The laws of this metre only required that the second^
fourth, and last feet should be Iambics ; in the other places, Spondees, Anapasts, and Dactyls, were
admitted. This metre answers to our Alexandrine, or verse of twelve syllables ; but more exactly in
the number and kind of feet, than in its cadence, or general effect upon the ear. The pause after the
third foot, so essential to a melodious Alexandrine, has no place but by accident, in the Iambic, which
runs more swiftly, and has a more prosaic effect. This, undoubtedly, led the ancients to measure it
per dipodiam, or by double feet (see HOT. Art. Poet. v. 252, pes citus : unde, &c.) which answer to double
bars in modern music. Ariosto wrote some comedies in this Iambic measure. One of his lines will
perhaps be as exact a representation of the ancient Iambic as can be produced, in point of cadence.
Per dio son qua \ si in pensier di \ tornarmene.
The following A lexandrine of Spenser may also serve for the same purpose.
So in his angry courage fairly pacified.
(n) From the drear mansions of the dead, and gates
Of darkness horrible, I come, where reigns
Remote from all the Gods, Hell's awful king.
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
only to show how the ancients divided it into three portions of
two feet in each : but the bars of Time, the Thesis or beat, must
always fall in the middle of the foot: u | ~ f | f*. For the sake of
distinguishing the feet more clearly, I have barred them singly ;
though it would have been more conformable to the ancient manner
of scanning this kind of verse, and probably more expressive of its
cadence and effect, to have made but three bars in each line (o). ^
Besides this metre, the dialogue admitted, occasionally, Trochaic
verses. They are generally introduced in scenes of hurry and dis-
order ; being, as Aristotle has described them, and as their name
implies, a voluble and dancing measure (p). A character which the
reader will not be inclined to dispute, when he compares the
ancient Trochaic with a measure exactly corresponding to it in our
own language, but which we have not yet admitted into our tragedy.
nov 'ow ovros, 6? ire^vye \ r'Sv/tov eic So^v gtyo? (q) :
This is a pure Trochaic, and is precisely in the measure of our
Jolly mortals fill yotir glasses,
Noble deeds are done by wine.
The whole difference is, that the ancient Trochaics were written
in one line : but this is merely to the eye; for they really consist of
two verses ; the last syllable of the fourth foot being, I believe,
constantly the end of a word.
Mr. West, in his translation of the Iphigenia in Tauris of
Euripides, has given a whole scene of Trochaics in the correspondent
English measure (r). A single line of the original, with his
translation, will be a sufficient example of Trochaic Rhythm.
5* HvSti TToXZ rcus | rovfi* *x&v M' ao-/xa— - ros-
From the reach of this contagion | fly 1 I warn you all to fly !
(o) The Iambics of Greek Comedy differ from these only in a little more liberty of construction :
those of the Roman, in Plautus and Terence, are so licentious, as often not to differ perceptibly from
Prose, even in the judgment of Cicero himself ; propter similitudinem sermonis, sic seepe sunt abjecti,
ut nonnunquam vis in his numerus et versus sentixi possit. Orator, cap. 55.
(p) Tpoxepov opx>j<rucwTepav. Arist. Rhet. 3. 4. et Poet. 4.
(a) Eurip. Orest. 1539. Orestes runs upon the stage with a sword in his hand, in pursuit of a
Phrygian slave, who had offended *"'"\ crying out, literally, " Where is he who ran away from my sword
out of the house ? " These verses are composed of eight feet, wanting one syllable to complete the
last Trochee, which, in the following example, is expressed by a crotchet rest, to fill up the time, as was
practised by the ancients in setting these deficient verses. See A. Quint, p. 40. concerning these rests,
or vacua Tempora. The Trochaic, like the Iambic measure, admitted the mixture of other feet ;
but contrary to Iambics, thejfrd, third, and fifth places were in this metre the most sacred. It may be
observed, however, of both, that this licence was not such as by any means destroyed the general
character and pace of the verse.
(r) He seems, however, to have been mistaken, in supposing that Trochaics were introduced in
this scene, " to give an air of solemnity ', &c." Nothing could be more remote from the character of
this metre. But it was rather adapted to occasions of urgent business, and anxious preparation, such
as are the subject of this scene. Mr. Gray, in his Ode on Poesy, has three times admitted this measure
in the three epodes ; in the first epode, where Venus and the Graces are dancing, it is certainly used
with great propriety and beauty, after
" Frisking light in frolic measures."
In the other two epodes it was matter of necessity, the subject would hardly have led him to it.
79
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Such were the metres appropriated to the dialogue of the
a,ncient tragedy, and such must have been the Rhythms or Times of
the music to which they were set.
I shall close these observations with one example more, taken
from the choral part of the drama, that part which, as will be
shewn in the ninth section, was more particularly musical ; the
circle marked out for the musician, where all the magic of his art,
with all the wonders of Rhythm, were to be displayed. Of the
metre of this part, I shall only observe, in general, that it seems
to have admitted of such an unbounded variety in the mixture
and arrangement of feet, and to have been fettered by so few
restraints, that, to a modern ear, it is frequently not to be distin-
guished from a smooth and elegant prose. We can therefore be
certain of nothing, concerning the music applied to the ancient
chorus, except the relative lengths, of the notes as they are
determined by the prosody : in what manner the ancients divided
them by beats, I do not even presume to guess ; and I believe it
may be proposed to the musical reader as a problem, worthy, for
its difficulty, at least, if not for its importance, to exercise his
sagacity, how the following specimen should be barred, in order to
render it as little tormenting to the ear as possible.
FTrrrrrrrrrr r r
Q ye-ve-at /SpoTtop, 'ws, 'vjads 't — <ra Ka.1 TO
r r r r
Z co — eras 'e — va. — pit? — /<.&
-t* r r r r^^
Tts yap, Tts 'a — vi)p irXe — ov
?v »_
p r r r r p [•=£=
Tas 'ciJ-fiat — ^/io — vl as <j>e pet,
r r r rr ? FT
H TO — trov— TOV *o-^-crov So — ^»cetv
r p r rr P^
Kat S6^-aw^ a— TTOK Xt— i/at; (s)
(s) So#»Aoc. Otftit^. Tyr. v. 1196.
0 hapless state of human race !
How quick the fleeting shadows pass
Of transitory bliss below,
Where all is vanity and woe \-Francklin.
80
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
The most striking circumstance in all these examples, is the
Eerpetual change of time, occasioned by the mixture of unequal
jet (t). To the eye, indeed, the Recitative of the old French
opera presents a similar appearance ; but where no strict time is
observed, the changes are less perceptible to the ear. No circum-
stance relative "to ancient music has been more frequently and
triumphantly opposed to the modern, in proof of superiority, than
its inviolable adherence to the fixed quantity of syllables (u). It is
perhaps equally difficult to disprove this, and to conceive how such
a music could be rigorously executed, without throwing both the
hearers and performers into convulsions. If, however, this was
the case, we need no longer wonder at the noisy expedients, to
which the ancients had recourse in beating time ; for I believe the
best modern band would find it difficult, if not impossible, to keep
exactly together in the execution of a Greek Chorus, though
assisted by all the clatter of an ancient Coryph&us.
Upon the whole, perhaps, even the imperfect view which I have
here attempted to give of the rhythmical resources of ancient music,
may be sufficient to warrant something more than a doubt, whether,
after all that Isaac Vossius (x), and many others have said, a
•fixed prosody, and the rigorous, unaccommodating length of
syllables be any recommendation of a language for music ; that is,
whether a music formed and moulded closely upon such a language,
must not necessarily be cramped and poor, in comparison of that
free, unshackled variety, that independent range of rhythmical
phrase, which constitutes so considerable a part of the riches of
modern music (y). Let the most inventive composer try to set
half a dozen Hexameters, pure Iambics, or any other verses that
will fall into regular common or triple time, and he will soon find
that no resources of melody are sufficient to disguise or palliate the
insipid and tiresome uniformity of the measure ; and as for any
thing like expression, we may as well expect to be affected by the
mechanical strut of a soldier upon the parade. In other metres,
such as those already given in the preceding examples, where feet
of different times are intermixed, some variety is indeed acquired ;
but it is a misplaced variety, which, without obviating the tiresome
effect of a confinement to no more than two lengths of notes, adds
to it that of an aukward and uncouth arrangement: the ear is still
fatigued with uniformity where it requires change, and distracted
by change where it requires uniformity.
(t) See Reflex. Crit. of the abb6 du Bos, torn. iii. § 2. p. 33.
(u) In Versu quidem Theatra iota exdamant, si suit una syllaba brevior aut longior. Gic. Oral, ad
Brut. 52.
(x) This author, De Viribus Rhythmi, p. 128, advises the modems, if they would have any music
fit to be heard, to dismiss all their barbarous variety of notes, and retain only minims and crotchets.
This would, indeed, be inoentis frugibus, gland* vesci I
(y) I am happy to find an ingenious writer of the same opinion. " Music," says Mr. Webb,
" borrows sentiments from poetry, and lends her movements, and consequently must prefer that
mode of versification, which leaves her most at liberty to consult her own genius." Obs. on Poet,
and Mus. p. 131.
VOI,. i. 6 8l
A GENERAL HISTORY Of MUSIC
Modern music, on the contrary, by its division into equal bars,
and its unequal subdivision of these bars by notes of various
lengths, unites to the pleasure which the ear is by nature formed to
receive from a regular and even measure, all the variety and
expression which the ancients seem to have aimed at by sudden and
convulsive changes of time, and a continual conflict of jarring and
irreconcileable Rhythms (z).
It is evident, from the proofs already given, that the Greeks
and Romans had but two different degrees of long and short notes,
and even the old lozenge and square characters still used in the
Canto Fermo of the Romish church, under the denomination of
Gregorian notes, are but of two kinds : the time of these may,
indeed, have been accelerated or retarded, but still the same pro-
portion must have been preserved between them ; and all their
variety must have arisen from different combinations of these two
kinds of notes, such as any two of ours could afford : as semibreves
and minims, minims and crotchets, or crotchets and quavers (a).
This accounts for the facility with which even the common
people of Greece could discover the mistakes, if any were committed,
in the length and shortness of the syllables, both with respect to
the poetry, and the music ; a point of history in which all writers
agree ; and this seems to confirm what has been already said in
the fifth section : that besides the intervals peculiar to the melody,
Rhythm, or time, must have contributed to characterize the modes,
though it has no kind of connection with our flat and sharp keys;
and this gives an idea quite different from what our modern modes,
taken as keys, and our music, in general, furnish. Tartini* upon
this subject says, that we make the prosody subservient to the
music, not the music to the prosody ; and adds, "that as by the
laws prescribed to the ancient musicians, they were obliged to
preserve rigorously in their music the quantity of syllables, it was
impossible to protract a vowel, in singing, beyond the time which
(z) Nothing seems more essential to musical pleasure, than the division of melody into eq-ua.1
portions of time, or bars. Quintilian attributed to this natural mensuration of the ear, the first produc-
tion of poetry : Pama—aurium mensurd, et similiter decurrentium spatiorum observation ess*
eeneratum. Hexameters and Iambics appear to have been the most ancient Greek metres ; and the
latter, if we may credit Horace, A rt. Poet. 253, were at first pure and uncompounded. The mixture of
unequal feet, and the Dithyrambic licence of lyric poetry, were later refinements. The progress of
Musical Rhythm was, of course, the same. Plutarch expressly says, in the dialogue de Musicd, that the
compositions of Terpander, and other old masters, were set to Hexameters, chiefly of Homer ; that is,
they were in regular common time. The change and intermixture of Rhythms is spoken of as the
innovation of modern artists. Plato rejects these complicated measures from the music of his Republic:
and even Isaac Vossius, the great champion of ancient Rhythm, who asserts that " no man can be a
good musician that is not a good drummer" owns, p. n, that vitiosum 6- incompositum imprimis, fiet
carment si duorum, trium, quatuor, pluHumve temporum pedes, veluti Pyrrichii, Iambi, Dactyli, Paones,
Jonici, simul copulentur : though this is done continually, not only in the lyric part, but even in the
dialogue of the ancient drama. <•
(a) Modern " Music," says Mr. Harris, Disc, on Mus. Paint, and Poet. p. 73, ist Edit. " has many
different lengths of notes in common use, all which may be infinitely compounded, even in any one time
or measure. Poetry, on the other hand, has but two lengths or quantities, a long syllable and a short,
which is its half ; and all the variety of verse arises from such feet and metres, as these two species of
syllables, by being compounded, can be made to produce." What is here said of verse, is equally
applicable to ancient music, which was strictly confined to verse : and it seems as if whole pages could
not place the difference between the Rhythm of ancient and modern music, in a clearer point of view.
* Besides achieving fame as a violinist, teacher and composer, Tartini (1692-1770) wrote many
books on musical subjects, including a Treatise on Music published in 1754.
82
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
belonged to a syllable: we, on the contrary, prolong the vowels
through many bars, though in reading they are oftentimes short."
Tartini, however, in pure courtesy, allows to the ancients a
discretionary power of making syllables longer or shorter than
rigorous time would admit, in order to diversify expression, and to
enforce the passion implied by the words (6); but if time was
rigorously beaten, in the manner the ancients have related, it is not
very easy to subscribe to this opinion.
And now, having explained the nature, difference, and proper-
ties of ancient Rhythm, I shall bestow a few words on an
examination of the modern, and endeavour to shew what it has in
common with the ancient, and what peculiar to itself (c)>
We no longer know Rhythm now under its ancient name; how-
ever, it has been continued, with a small change of pronunciation,
merely to express the final cadence of verses, or the agreement and
similarity of sound in the last syllables of two or more lines in
poetry ; being at present what we call Rhyme : whereas the
proportion subsisting between the different parts of a melody are
called time, measure, movement.
And when we come to examine this proportion, we find that it
only consists of two kinds, differently modified ; and these two are
known by the names of common time, consisting of equal numbers,
and triple time, of unequal.
Tartini has whimsically deduced all measure from the propor-
tions of the octave and its fifth (d). "Common time, or measure,"
says he, "arises from the octave, which is as 1 : 2 ; triple time arises
from the fifth, which is as 2 : 3. These, adds he, are the utmost
limits within which we can hope to find any practicable proportions
for melody. Indeed, many have attempted to introduce other
kinds of measure, which, instead of good effects, have produced
nothing but the greatest confusion ; and this must always be the
case. Music has been composed of five equal notes in a bar, but
no musician has yet been found that is able to execute it."
By the improvement of instrumental music, and indeed by the
liberties which we have taken with poetry in singing, we have
multiplied notes, and accelerated the measure. Instead of one
sound to one syllable, or one portion of time for a short syllable,
and two for a long one, we frequently divide and subdivide the
time of these several portions into all their aliquot parts, and some-
times into incommensurable quantities.
(6) Trot, di Mus. p. 139.
(c) Mr. Marpurg has published a very useful work for his countrymen in Germany, upon this
subject, under the title of «nleitttng jut &in«eompwtion, Berlin, 1758, Introduction to Vocal
Music, in which he has compared the pronunciation and versification of the Latin, German, and
Italian languages. A strict adherence, however, to the rhythmical laws of Greece and Rome
would not enrich our melody ; though accurate rules for English prosody might be settled by musical
characters ; and as prosody comprehends not only the rules of pronunciation, but the laws of versin*
cation, a treatise on the subject, as far as it concerns vocal music, would be a most useful work to our
young lyric composers, as well as to foreigners, w£p frequently injure that poetry, which their melody
jshould enforce and explain. • • • .
,(<*) Jrat. diMus. p. 114,
83
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
After the invention of musical characters for time, different
from those in poetry, the study of their relations became one of the
most laborious and perplexed parts of a musician's business. These
characters were of different value and velocity, according to other
characters placed at the beginning of a musical composition, and
likewise frequently occurring in the course of a piece, to anounce
a change of measure : as from common time to triple, from quick
to slow, or the contrary. These characters were called Moods, but
they were so extremely embarrassing and ill understood, till the
invention of bars, by which musical notes were divided into equal
portions, that no two theorists agreed in the definition of them.
These modes, by which the kind of movement, with respect to
quick and slow, as well as the proportions of the notes, used to be
known, serve for no other purpose, since technical terms, chiefly
taken from the Italian language and music, have been adopted,
than to mark the number and kind of notes in each bar.
But by this invention of musical characters for time, and the use
of bars, we have certainly advanced in the composition and
performance of instrumental music, by giving to it more energy
and accentuation ; it has now a cadence and feet of its own, more
marked and sensible than those of poetry, by which it used to move.
We have also, in our Airs, a distinct species of music for poetry,
wholly different from Recitative and Chanting ; for in these we are
less tied down to stated measure than the ancients, being only
governed by the accent and cadence of the words. However, our
florid-song, it cannot be dissembled, is not always sufficiently
subservient to poetry ; for in applying music to words, it frequently
happens that the finest sentiments and most polished verses of
modern languages are injured and rendered unintelligible, by an
inattention to Prosody. Even the simple and plain rides of giving
a short note to a short syllable, a long to a long ; and of accentuating
the music by the measure and natural cadence of the verse,
which, it may be supposed, the mere reading would point out to a
good ear and understanding, are but too frequently neglected.
Modern melody requires, perhaps, more than a single sound to
a single syllable ; and a fine voice deserves, now and then, a long
note to display its sweetness ; but this should be done upon long
syllables, and to open vowels, and, perhaps, in general, after the
words have been once simply and articulately sung, for the hearer
to know what passion is intended to be expressed, or sentiment
enforced, by future divisions.
Expletives, particles, and words of small importance, are forced
into notice by careless or ignorant composers, who, only intent
upon mere music, pay no regard to her sister, poetry. But then,
poetry, in revenge, is as little solicitous about musical effects ; for
symmetry of air, or simplicity of design, are generally so little
thought of, that every heterogenous idea, which can be hitched
into rhyme, is indiscriminately crowded into the same song. Indeed
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
music and poetry, like man and wife, or other associates, are
best asunder, if they cannot agree ; and on many occasions, it
were to be wished, that the partnership were amicably dissolved.
Salinas tells us, from St. Augustine, that poets and musicians
have ever been at strife concerning long and short syllables, accents,
and quantity, since they have ceased to be united in one and the
same person, and have set up different interests.
There is some poetry so replete with meaning, so philosophical,
instructive, and sublime, that it becomes wholly enervated by being
drawled out to a tune, which affects no part of the head, but the ear.
And there is, again, some kind even of instrumental music, so
divinely composed, and so expressively performed, that it wants no
words to explain its meaning : it is itself the language of the heart
and of passion, and speaks more to both in a few notes, than any
other language composed of clashing consonants, and insipid
vowels, can do in as many thousand.
And, upon the whole, it seems as if poetry were more
immediately the language of the head, and music that of the heart;
or, in other words, as if poetry were the properest vehicle of
instruction, and modulated sound that of joy, sorrow, and innocent
pleasure. "Let the musician," says M. Rousseau, "have as many
images or sentiments to express as you please, with few simple
ideas: for the passions only sing, the understanding speaks (e)."
But notwithstanding both poetry and prosody are so frequently
injured by injudicious composers, it must not be imagined that in
our simple airs of the gavot and minuet kind, we have no musical
Rhythm, or that it always clashes with the poetical. Innumerable
instances may be given from well known English songs, where the
cadence of the verse, and even the pronunciation of each syllable is
carefully preserved by the air. For though our time-table furnishes
six different degrees of long and short notes, without points, yet, if
the divisions in songs designed to display a particular talent for
the difficult execution be excepted, we seldom use more than two
kinds of notes in the same air.
Mirth, admit me of thy crew, by Handel, as well as several
popular songs by Dr. Arne, Mr. Jackson, and others, are sufficiently
conformable to poetical numbers and Rhythm, to satisfy the
greatest admirers of ancient simplicity, or even such as love poetry
better than music, from whom complaints of non-conformity
generally proceed.
Isaac Vossius* says it is now above a thousand years since
musicians have lost that great power over the affections, which
arose only from the true science and use of Rhythm ; and he accuses
(e) Diet, dff Musiquc, Art. ACCENT. -
* 1618-1688 (?). He was made a D.C.L. (Oxon,) in 1670 and appointed a Prebend of the Royal
Chapel, Windsor in 1673. His book DA Poematum Canto et Viribus Rythmi was published
anonymously in 1673.
85
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
modern music of such a want of time and accent, as to be all of one
style and colour (/). We will not defend the age in which Vossius
wrote from the charge, nor the music of the present serious opera in
France ; but the compositions of Italy and Germany are certainly
free from the censure, as music is now more divided into phrases
and sentences, and time is more marked and more easily felt than it
has ever been since the days of Guido. What it was before, is not
very well known ; but to confess the truth, it is my opinion, that
whatever it has comparatively lost in some particulars, it has gained
in others, as I shall endeavour to manifest in the course of this
work.
CO Adeoque temporum vanetate destwtur hujus JEtatis Musica, ut v#e de ea did posset, unius
propemodunt earn esse coloris et saporis. De Poemat. Cantu et Virib. Rhvthmi, p. 86. But true
English «ne*»£ should certainly not be accused of want of accent : for, like the French, according to
M. Rousseau, in quick movements, it resembles un corps dur et angukux qui rouie sur le pant.
86
Section VII
Of the Practice of Melopoda
IT was long and ardently wished, that a collection of some of the
most" beautiful melodies of antiquity could have been found
among the ancient manuscripts that have escaped the ravages
of time, in order to determine what kind of music it was, of which
such wonders have been related ; as examples would have been
more decisive in proving the truth or falsehood of the effects that
have been attributed to it, and its comparative excellence with the
modern, than the strongest arguments that can be drawn from
history, or the dark and dry musical treatises that are come down
to us. But remains of this kind are not easily found : however, a
few are still subsisting, of which I shall give a minute account.
At the end of a Greek edition of the astronomical poems of
Aratus, called Phenomena, and their Scholia, published at Oxford,
in 1672, the anonymous editor («), among several other pieces, has
enriched the volume with three hymns, which he supposed to have
been written by a Greek poet called Dionysius, of which the first
is addressed to the Muse Calliope, the second to Apollo, and the
third to Nemesis ; and these hymns are accompanied with the notes
of ancient music, to which they used to be sung.
This precious manuscript, which was found in Ireland, among
the papers of the famous archbishop Usher, was bought, after his
decease, by Mr. Bernard, fellow of St. John's college, who com-
municated it to the editor, together with remarks and illustrations
by the reverend Mr. Edmund Chilmead, of Christ-church, who
likewise reduced the ancient musical characters to those in common
use. It appears by the notes, that the music of these hymns was
composed in the Lydian mode, and Diatonic genus.
Vincenzo Galilei, father of the great Galileo, first published
these hymns, with their Greek notes, in his Dialogues upon Ancient
and Modern Music, printed at Florence, 1581, folio. He assures
us, that he had them from a Florentine gentleman, who copied them
very accurately from an ancient Greek manuscript, preserved in the
library of cardinal St. Angelo, at Rome, which MS. likewise contained
the treatises of music by Aristides Quintilianus, and Bryennius,
since published by Meibomius and Dr. Wallis. The Florentine
edition of these hymns entirely agrees with that printed at Oxford.
(a) Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graca, tells us, that it -was Dr. John Fell, afterwards bishop of Oxford,
to whom the literary world is indebted for this elegant and accurate edition of Aratus.
87
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
In 1602, Hercules Bottrigari mentioned the same hymns in his
harmonical discourse, called Melone, printed at Ferrara, in 4to. But
he derived his knowledge of these pieces, only from the Dialogues
of Galilei ; however, he inserted, in the beginning of his book, some
fragments of them in common notes ; but they were disfigured by
a number of typographical errors.
At length, in the year 1720, M. Burette published these three
hymns, in the Memoirs of the Academy des Inscriptions, tome V.
from a copy found at the end of a Greek manuscript in the king of
France's library at Paris, No. 3221,, which likewise contained the
musical treatises of Aristides Quintilianus, and of Bacchius senior.
But though the words were confused, and confounded one with
another, they appeared much more complete in this manuscript than
elsewhere, particularly the hymn to Apollo, which had six verses
more at the beginning ; and that to Nemesis, which, though deficient
at the end in all the other editions, v/as here entire, having fourteen
verses, exclusive of the six first.
I have been the more solicitous to trace the manner in which
these curious fragments were discovered, in order to afford my
reader all possible satisfaction with respect to their authenticity.
Indeed they have been sifted, collated, and corrected by the most
able critics in the Greek language, as well as the most skilful
musicians of this and the last century : I shall therefore avail
myself of all their labours ; and, after presenting the reader with a
copy of the original manuscript in the form it was at first discovered,
that is, with the Greek musical characters over the words, I shall
insert the same music in equivalent modem notes ; and, lastly, shall
venture to give an English paraphrastical translation of each hymn,
with remarks upon the whole,*
MOY2AN,
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* Bumey's transcription of these Hymns differs from that by modern authorities not only in
the actual notes, but in Rhythm. There is such a difference of opinion amongst the experts as to the
correct transcription of Greek music that it seems impossible to arrive at any definite conclusions
as to the rights or wrongs of the matter.
In an article in the Musical Quarterly for October, 1919 (vol. 4, No. 4, part x), Mr. Phillips Barry
throws doubt on the authenticity of these Hymns. He claims that the structure of them all is penta-
chordal with a definite close on the Tonic. (This might be so, but it is difficult to see why a penta-
chordal structure proves the forgery of the Hymns as the early, or as Burney calls it, "The Old
Enharmonic," scale was of a pentachordal character). He writes : " The tetrachord was the bed-
rock of melodic composition. The unanimous testimony of scores and musicography is to this effect,
and establishes as an inviolable rule, the close on the inferior dominant."
He goes on to say that the hymns are " notated in a mixed rotation, the characters of which are
taken from both vocal and instrumental diagrams." According to him the composer of these hymns
got his knowledge of Greek musical notation from the diagram of Alypius and confused the two
notations. Despite this, most authorities admit the hymns as genuine.
88
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
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HYMN to the Muse CALLIOPE.
0 Muse belov'd, Calliope divine,
The first in rank among the tuneful Nine,
Guide thou my hand and voice, and let my lyre
Re-echo back the notes thy strains inspire.
And thou, great leader of the sacred band,
Latona's son, at whose sublime command
The spheres are tun'd, whom Gods and men declare
Sovereign of song, propitious hear my pray'r.
'(&) In the copy of these hymns, published by M. Burette, from the manuscript in the king of
France's library, at Paris, the notes expressed by the small letters 'C p <r ate all capitals, like those
in the printed diagrams of Alypius ; and Vincenzo Galilei observes, that Hypate Meson, which in the
Lydian mode is C, 'was expressed by Alypius, not only with a small sigma, but a capital, and sometimes
by this character C. The same thing happened likewise to Parhypatc Meson, and to Mese. Dial,
delta Musica Antica e M oderna, p. 97.
(c) In the French MS. this is G$.
(d) In Burette this is D.
(*) Oxford MS.
89
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de apoe nuas ftawsiv
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
YMNOZ Ell ATIOAAQNA.
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These six verses are not
in the Oxford or Italian
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DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
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A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
HYMN to APOLLO.
Through nature's wide domain
Let solemn silence reign:
Let aH the mountains, hills, and floods,
The earth, the sea, the winds, and woods,
The echos, and the feather 'd throng,
Forbear to move, or tune their song.
Behold ! the Lord of Light
Begins to bless our sight ;
Phoebus, whose voice, divinely clear,
E'en Jove himself delights to hear ;
Great father of the bright-ey'd morn,
Whose shoulders golden locks adorn !
Swift through the azure sky
O let thy coursers fly;
And with them draw that radiant car
Which spreads thy splendid rays afar,
Filling all space at thy desire
With torrents of immortal fire.
For thee, serene advance
The spheres, in solemn dance,
For ever singing as they move
Around the sacred throne of Jove,
Songs accordant to thy lyre,
While all the heavenly host admire.
And when the God of day
Withdraws his golden ray,
Do thou, sweet Cynthia, bless our sight
With thy mild beams, and silver light ;
O spread thy snowy mantle round,
And wrap the world in peace profound.
YMNO2 EIS NEMESIN.
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( f) The rest of the musical characters are lost.
93
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
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HYMN TO NEMESIS (g).
Avenging Nemesis, of rapid wing,
Goddess of eye severe, thy praise we sing:
Against thy influence, ruler of our lives,
Daughter of Justice, man but vainly strives.
'Tis thine to check with adamantine rein
The pride of mortals, and their wishes vain;
Of insolence to blunt the lifted dart,
And drive black Envy from the canker'd heart.
Still at the pleasure of thy restless wheel,
Whose track the Fates from human eyes conceal,
Our fortune turns ; and in life's toilsome race
'Tis thine, invisible, our steps to trace;
To strew with flow'rs, or thorns, the doubtful maze,
And by thy rule to circumscribe our days.
Insulting tyrants, at thy dire decree,
Bow tiae proud head, and bend the stubborn knee :
Inflexible to each unjust demand
Frowning thou hold'st thy scales with steady hand.
(g) In the fitst chorus of the Electra of Sophocles, there is a fine description of this goddess ;
and among the poems attributed to Orpheus there is a hymn to Nemesis, O Nejx«<n, /cX>)£a» <re fiea
j8a<rt\eta /
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Incorruptible judge, whom nought can move,
Nor less infallible than mighty Jove :
Great guardian ! ever watchful, ever near,
0 sacred minister of justice, hear!
Avenging Nemesis, of rapid wing,
Goddess of eye severe, thy praise we sing.
And let Astrsea, thy companion, share
Our pious praises, and our fervent pray'r.
She mounts the skies, or plunges into hell
With rapid flight, the deeds of man to tell ;
Dread Justice 1 whose report has power t' assuage
The wrath of Gods, and calm infernal rage.
Though the Oxford editor of Arams i=> of opinion that these
three hymns were all written by a poet called Dionysius; yet as
thirteen or fourteen Greek poets of that name are mentioned by
ancient authors, the determining to which of them these hymns
appertain, would be difficult Besides, the hymn to Nemesis is
by some attributed to a poet named Mesodmes, who flourished
under the emperor Justinian; but M. Burette thinks the name
Mesodmes corrupted from Mesomedes; and Capitolinus, in his Life
of Antoninus Pius, mentions a lyric poet of that name, from whom
that emperor withdrew part of a pension granted to him by Adrian,
for verses which he had written in praise of his favourite Antinous.
This circumstance is likewise mentioned by Suidas; and Eusebius,
in his Chronicle, speaks of Mesomedes, as a poet originally of
Crete, whom he calls MfraQcodixov von&v povowos noiijTtjs, which
agrees very well with the author of the hymn in question. But
whoever were the writers of these pieces, it is certain that the last,
addressed to Nemesis, is more ancient than Synethius, a father of the
church, who flourished four hundred and tw'elve years after Christ;
and who, in his ninety-fifth letter, quotes three verses from it as
from a hymn that was sung in his time to the sound of the lyre; and
it is likewise certain that the composition of this hymn, as well as
of the other two, bears strong marks of having been written at a
time when Greek poetry was still flourishing.
The specimens of ancient music are so rare, that the few which
remain cannot be too carefully collected, or discussed too minutely.
M. Burette, after enumerating all the Greek poets of the name
of Dionysius, and specifying the works that have been attributed
to them, fixes upon Dionysius, surnamed Iambus, as the author of
the two first hymns, to which the original music has been preserved.
This author is quoted by Plutarch (h), and by Clemens Alexan-
drinus (i). Whence it may be concluded that this poet, though the
exact time when he flourished is unknown, was certainly more
ancient than Plutarch, M. Burette pushes conjecture still further,
and supposes that this Dionysius was even more ancient than
Dionysius of Thebes, the music-master of Epaminondas, according
(h) De M*sica (t) Strom, lib. V ,-
94
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
to Cornelius Nepps, and whom Plutarch, from Aristoxenus, in his
Dialogue on Music, ranks among the most illustrious lyric poets of
antiquity; such as Lamprus, Pindar, and Pratinas. And in this case
the hymns to Calliope and Appollo are not only more ancient than
that to Nemesis, attributed to Mesomedes, but of the highest anti-
quity. It is likewise the opinion of M. Burette, that the music of
these hymns is nearly as ancient as the hymns themselves.
I shall not trouble the reader with all my reasons for the several
changes and deviations from former editions, that occur in the
manner of printing these melodies; it seems only necessary to say
that they have been made from the best copies and authorities I
could procure. Three things, however, are particularly to be con-
sidered with respect to this music : the Notes, or characters, by
which they are expressed; the Melody, or air; and Rhythm, or
measure.
1. Of the Notes of the Ancient Music to the Hymns
Of the fifteen sounds in the ancient system of music, only ten
are employed in the melody set to these hymns, and these are the
ten lowest, according to our method of reckoning. As to the notes
which express these sounds, they are eleven in number, because
two of them, T and E, serve to express the same sound in two
different relations. In the Oxford edition of the first hymn, five
notes were wanting, which have been supplied from the manuscript
in the king of France's library, and from the copy given of it in the
Memoirs of the Academy of Inscriptions, by M. Burette. Some
other corrections have been made, by comparing the vocal notes of
the Lydian mode, in which these hymns are composed, with the
instrumental, which used to be placed in a separate line under the
vocal.
2. Of the Modulation, or Melody of this Music
-.
It was discovered that these three hymns* were sung in the
Lydian mode of the Diatonic genus, by comparing the notes with
those given by Alypius, in his catalogue of the characters used in
that mode, which, in counting from the bottom, was the tenth,
among the fifteen ancient modes. All the commentators, except
Sir Francis Eyles Stiles, seem certain that these fifteen modes only
differed from each other by a semitone; so that, supposing the
lowest string, or sound of the lowest mode or key, which was called
the Hypodorian, corresponded with our A on the first space in the
base; it follows, that the lowest sound of the Lydian mode answered
to F sharp on the fourth line in the base, and the highest sound to
* Experts differ as to the modes of these hymns. The late Mr. Cecil Torr inclined to the Hypo
Lydian for the Hymn to Nemesis whilst Mr. R. P. Winnington Ingram (Music and Letters, October,
1020), tentatively suggests the Phrygian. The last named also suggests the Mixolydian as the key
o?the Hymn to the &e. ProfessoV Wooldridge (Oxford History of Music, VoL i. p. 19) describes the
Hymns to Apollo and to the Muse as being in the Dorian mode and the Hymn to Nemesis as the
relaxed lastian.
95
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
F sharp on the fifth line in the treble, which extended to two
octaves, the compass of the ancient system of music. However, it
must not be concluded from this circumstance that these three
hymns are in F sharp, according to the modern musical language.
They are supposed to be in the Lydian mode, only on account of
the melody being confined within the limits of the two octaves
appropriate to this mode ; and not because the three essential
sounds, which, in modern music, are the key note, third, and fifth,
frequently occur.
It has already been observed, Section IV. that the medius, or
middle sound, in all the ancient modes, is a minor, or flat third.
Indeed the melody of the two first hymns begins and ends upon
the fifth of the Lydian mode; that of the third hymn begins upon
the octave of the first sound of the mode; but as the music of only
the five first verses, and half the sixth is preserved, we are ignorant
upon what sound this melody ended.
According to the system of modern music, the first hymn begins
in the key of C $, with a minor third; the second in the key of F #
minor; and what remains of the last hymn, seems to be in the key
of A with a sharp third, as the first note, F, would be only regarded
as an Appoggiatura by most modern musicians. But why M.
Burette, and, after him, all other editors of this music, except
M. Marpurg, have printed the third hymn with jour sharps, and
yet pronounced it to be in the Lydian mode, which has no D #
belonging to it, I know not; as D is always natural throughout this
fragment.
These melodies, though no other sounds are used in any of
them than what belong to the Lydian mode, very frequently
change the key, according to modern language and ideas; which
shews what a .different sense from ours the ancients annexed to
the term mode or key. They only understood by it a certain degree
of elevation, or acuteness, in the general system of their music, in
which the sounds always" followed in the same order; whereas in
ours, keys are distinguished from each other, not only by their
situation in the scale with respect to high and low, but by their
different arrangement with respect to mutable intervals, such as
thirds and sixths, which constitute major and minor, or sharp and
flat keys, besides the different modifications that these keys receive
from temperament, which in instruments, whose tones are fixed, are
characterized and diversified by a greater or less degree of perfec-
tion in the intervals and concords, though all the intervals of major
and minor keys are nominally, and essentially the same.
As to the order and succession of sound in the ancient melody
of these hymns, some of them are repeated several times together,
and in some places as often as six or seven, and even nine times;
others move in conjunct or disjunct degrees, ascending or descend-
ing, and these disjunct intervals are by a major, or minor third,
a fourth, a tritonus, a fifth, sixth major or minor, a seventh, eighth,
ninth, or tenth. Through all the simplicity of these melodies, which
somewhat resemble the Canto Fermo of the Romish church, it
96
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
appears that the musician,, by the arrangement of sounds, aimed at
the expression of the words. Something also seems to be indicated
in this music like Appoggiaturas, by two notes, which are sung to
one and the same syllable, sometimes ascending an,d descending by
regular degrees, sometimes by leaps of a sixth, and even a tenth,
which in simple melody is very extraordinary (k). Though it has
been said, Section VI. that only one note was sung to one syllable,
yet here we often find two notes to a long syllable; but then they
are constantly two short notes, which amount but to the natural
length of the syllable. Upon the whole, these melodies are so little
susceptible of harmony, or the accompaniments of many parts,
that it would be even difficult to make a tolerable base to any one
of them, especially to the first.
3* Of the Rhythm, or Time, in this Music
The Rhythm, or cadence of these hymns, though correspondent
to the different feet of the verses in which they are written, is not
always regular ; but in the hymn to Calliope it is sometimes in
common time, and sometimes in triple. M. Burette was the first
who divided the time by bars, in the modem manner ; but as the
accents and long syllables in his copy frequently occur upon short
notes, and unaccented parts of the bars, I have ventured to divide
the measure in such a manner as seemed best to make the accent of
the music coincide with the quantity of the verse, in which we are
taught to think the Greeks were very exact.
It would be difficult to write the music of the Dithyrambic to
Calliope in one measure, on account of the different kinds of verse;
but the rhythm seems sufficiently ascertained by the word Ja/^oc,
which is written at the title of the manuscript, and by the Greek
syllable onov, for onovdsios, placed between the first and second verse
in all the three manuscripts, just above the word pofays, where two
notes were wanting in the music. These two words probably imply
that the rhythm is partly in the iambic measure, or triple time, and
partly in spondees and dactyls, which are equally in common time.
It has always appeared to me as if M. Burette was mistaken in
supposing the second and third hymns to be in triple time. The
melody seems more marked, and the words better accentuated, by
singing them in common time ; and it looks on paper more like
music of this world. However, candour requires that the reasons
alledged by M. Burette for printing them in triple time should be
given.
1 'I have reduced these hymns, " says this author, ' 'to our measure
of common and triple time, always placing a rest or pause at the
end of each verse. This mixture and variety of measure, which is
always exactly proportioned to the quantity of the syllables in the
(k) These Appoggiaturas, or short notes, are always upon the circumflex. Some of them bring to
mind a fault very common in bad English singing, in which violent force is frequently given to leanings
upon remote and dissonant notes, without grace or meaning.
VOL- i. 7 97
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
poetry, contributes greatly to the energy and expression of the
melody (Q."
M. Burette continues to acquaint us that he found out the rhythm
of the hymn to Apollo, by a note written in red ink, on the margin
of the king of France's manuscript, in the following words: revos
dwACLoiov, 6 QV&POS S&dexaorjfjLos; and above these words, the mark for
the iambic, expressed by the usual characters w . By which he
understands that the rhythm of this piece of poetry is in the double
genus, or the iambic, which is the sam'e thing; for in this measure, the
latter portion has only one syllable or note, and the former two, or
those proportions. This rhythm is composed of twelve syllables, or
parts, equivalent to twelve short notes, or what we should call twelve
breves, compared with six longs, or twelve crotchets opposed to
six minims ; so that there are four for the up, or last part of a bar,
and eight for the down, or first part, and the contrary, each verse
making one rhythm or measure ; which, however, may be divided
into two parts, or bars ; and this method M. Burette has pursued,
keeping always the same proportions.
But the marginal directions for the time, written in red ink upon
the French manuscript, are, in all probability, modern ; and it
amounts to the same thing if the verse be divided into three parts,
which has been done in writing the hymns in common time. There
is no one of the verses, however, which does not contain more in
quantity than twelve breves or crotchets, and, indeed, some of
them include fourteen or fifteen, which, from the strict adherence
to poetical quantity in the music, must render the time loose and
disjointed ; but regarding the redundant syllables as odd notes, the
verses all run thus: u-v/|-uv|-°w|-^|0r sometimes | "" v | ~~ |
which renders a sudden change to triple time necessary ; a change
which always convulses the hearer.
But I must give an account here of some alterations that have
been made in the text, for the sake of the music, by the advice of
a friend, to whose opinion I have frequently appealed in matters of
erudition. In the first hymn, M. Burette has made all the syllables
short, in the word stQoxaTayert ; but the second alpha is long: for the
word, out of its Doric dress, is xQoxaTijyeti, leader. This mistake has
made the melody more aukward than it need be, for which there
was no occasion. In the second hymn, vn l^vsai, disturbs the
metre, and syncopates the music ; but by inserting another sigma,
as the poets frequently do, and separating the iota from the rest of
the word, as is likewise often practised, all will be right ; for a
(Z) This is an assertion that I cannot possibly pass uncontroverted ; for most of the musicians in
Europe, except those of France, will absolutely deny the truth of it, and, on the contrary, will affirm,
that the frequent change of time in the music of the serious French opera, relaxes the measure, and
destroys all idea of the accent and energy by which every phrase in good melody is constantly marked.
By two or three bars being in common time, and two or three in triple, as is generally the case in the
operas of Lulli and Rameau, the hearer can retain no fixed or precise idea of either ; the passages in
one mutually destroying the effects of the other ; for the traces are either lost, or so slightly impressed
in the memory, that the work is always to begin anew. The chief superiority of modern melody over
that of former times, is certainly due to the graceful arrangement of sounds, and the exact and con*
turned manner with which they are enforced by the measure, and the accentuation of the bars. The
difficulty of diatmgii-fchjng the airs from the recitatives in the old music, particularly the French, is
owing to the frequent change of measure, and the want of accent in the bars and musical phrases.
98
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
doubtful vowel before a mute and a liquid, as %v, may be either
short or long.
Uravols vn l-%veooi $t-coxsic.
I know not whether justice has been done to these melodies; all
I can say is, that no pains have been spared to place them in the
clearest and most favourable point of view : and yet, with all the
advantages of modern notes and modern measure, if I had been
told that they came from the Cherokees, or the Hottentots, I should
not have been surprised at their excellence. There is music which
all mankind, in civilized countries, would allow to be good ; but
these fragments are certainly not of that sort: for, with all the
light that can be thrown upon them, they have still but a rude and
inelegant appearance, and seem wholly unworthy of so ingenious,
refined, and sentimental a people as the Greeks ; especially if we
subscribe to the high antiquity that has been given to two of the
hymns, which makes them productions of that period of time when
arts and sciences were arrived in Greece at the highest point of
perfection.
I have tried them in every key, and in every measure that the
feet of the verses would allow; and as it has been the opinion of
some, that the Greek scale and music should be read Hebrewwise,
I have even inverted the order of the notes, but without being able
to augment their grace and elegance. The most charitable sup-
position therefore that can be admitted concerning them is, that the
Greek language being in itself accentuated and sonorous, wanted
less assistance from musical refinements than one that was more
harsh and rough : and music being still a slave to poetry, and
wholly governed by its feet, derived all its merit and effects from
the excellence of the verse, and sweetness of the voice that sung, or
rather recited it. For mellifluous and affecting voices nature
bestows from time to time on some gifted mortals in all the habitable
regions of the earth; and even the natural effusions of these must
ever have been heard with delight. But, as music, there needs no
other proof of the poverty of ancient melody, than its being
confined to long and short syllables. We have some airs of the
most graceful and pleasing kind, which will suit no arrangement of
syllables to be found in poetical numbers, ancient or modern ; and
which it is impossible to express by mere syllables in any language
with which I am at all acquainted.
I come now to speak of a fourth piece of ancient Greek music,
inserted in the Musurgia of Kircher, p. 542 ; from which it
was transcribed by the Oxford editor of Aratus, and published
with the three hymns above mentioned.* Father Kircher has been
very truly called vir immense^ quidem, $ed indigesta admodum
* This melody which was first published by Kircher in his Mttsurgia in 1650 is now generally
admitted to be a forgery. Kircher claimed to nave discovered the original MS. at Messina in the
monastery of San Salvator. Intensive search has been carried out for the MS. but so far without
success*
99
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
emditionis: a man of immense, but indigested, learning. It was
very natural to suspect the authenticity of a fragment of this kind
coming from one, who, though he had displayed great learning
in the number of huge volumes which he published, yet, was
always careless, inaccurate, and credulous ; collecting, without
choice or discernment, whatever he found relative to the subject
upon which he was writing ; and adopting whatever was offered
to him, true or false, provided it contained any thing marvellous.
In his Musurgia, printed at Rome, 1650, in folio, after giving
an account of the Greek musical characters, from Alypius, he tells
us, that "nothing now remains for him to do relative to ancient
music, but to give a genuine specimen of it, which he supposed the
more necessary, as no one had hitherto thought fit to satisfy the
eager curiosity of the learned upon a subject so interesting, and so
utterly unknown." From this passage it appears, that the manu-
scripts published by the two Italian authors, Vincenzio Galilei,
and Ercole Bottrigari, had escaped the researches of father Kircher,
though both much anterior to him, the one appearing in 1581,
and the other in 1602.
However, the specimen of ancient Greek music which father
Kircher gives us, is the more interesting, as he tells us that it had
never been edited before, but was found by himself in the famous
Sicilian library of the monastery of St. Saviour, near the port of
Messina. He calls it a very ancient fragment of Pindar ; it is
accompanied with the ancient Greek musical notes, which are the
same as Alypius attributes to the Lydian mode. Unluckily, what
our good father calls a very ancient -fragment of Pindar, was
nothing more than the first eight verses of the first Pythic of this
poet ; which gives no very favourable idea of his acquaintance
with the ancient poets.
However, to remove all doubt concerning the authenticity of
this manuscript, with respect to the music, the catalogue of Greek
manuscripts in St. Saviour's library was examined, as published in
Latin by P. Possevin, but without success. At length, application
was made by M. Burette to father Montfaucon, who was known
to be in possession of copies of all the most valuable manuscripts
in the principal libraries of Europe ; and among these the
manuscripts of St. Saviour's library had not been forgotten. But
in consulting the catalogue of these, they were found to consist
chiefly of the writings of the Greek fathers, with fewer prophane
authors than are mentioned in the catalogue published by Possevin.
However, in the last article were found the following words : 77o/Ucc
ds <UAct fiifttia nsQisxovoi rot navra nsgi TOV %ooov / that is, there are
still many books in manuscript relative to the choral service, which
must mean church music. "It was doubtless," 'says M. Burette,
"among such manuscripts as these that father Kircher discovered the
fragment of an Ode of Pindar set to music, as it seems tibie natural
place for such a relic to be found, and it is in vain to seek for a
further justification of the editor."
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
Of these eight verses of -the first Pythic of Pindar, which were
found with such ancient musical characters over them, as belong
to the Lydian mode (m), the four first have a melody set to them
for one or many voices ; the four last compose a different melody,
at the beginning of which were the following Greek words: %OQO$
els xiftagav ; chorus sung to the sound of the Cithara ; and over
the words of each verse are written the characters peculiar to
instrumental music ; which shews that the second melody was not
only executed by voices, but accompanied by one or more Citharas,
that played in unisons, or octaves, to the voice. The melody of
these eight verses is extremely simple, and composed of only six
different sounds; which is a cogent proof of the antiquity of the
music, since the lyre of seven strings had more notes than were
sufficient for its execution.
ODE OF PINDAR,
o re i a reioreiMi
e i
Xpj> — <rg a <f>op fuySt A jroX— Xw-ro?, /eat, — oirXo/ca ;J.MI»
Mierer oreireierMi
:ov Moi-crav KTGO.-VOV, Ta5 a
M
VV
NZ NV
jU j jlj j l^'j J b ^ l<» j 14 r jld g
rev— x>?5
u v HNZN
lij Jit j fJIJd j|j j
Kat TOV atx/xa -ray
(m) Kit were not for the musical characters over the notes, which belong to the Lydian mode,
this melody might with more propriety be said to be in the Phrygian mode.
101
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
This Ode has been happily translated by Mr. West.
Part of the first Pythian ODE.
Hail, golden lyre ! whose heav'n-invented string
To Phoebus, and the black-hair' d Nine belongs;
Who in sweet chorus round their tuneful king
Mix with thy sounding chords their sacred songs.
The dance, gay queen of pleasure, thee attends;
Thy jocund strains her list'ning feet inspire:
And each melodious tongue its voice suspends,
'Till thou, great leader of the heav'nly quire,
With wanton art preluding giv'st the sign —
Swells the full concert then with harmony divine.
WEST'S Pindar, vol. 1, p. 84.
The music, reduced to modern notes, is manifestly in
the key of E minor, as appears from the modulation and final note.
The first part begins upon the fifth of the key, the second upon the
third. Most of the closes in the course of the melody are made, not
as is usual with us, by the sharp seventh of the key, but in
ascending by a whole tone from the seventh to the eighth; a kind
of cadence very common among the Oriental people ; at least, if
we may judge by some Persian airs brought into Europe by the
missionaries, of which most of the closes are of that kind ; and in
none of the most ancient ecclesiastical chants is the sharp seventh
to be found.
With regard to this melody, it was reduced to common notes
by M. Burette, in the Memoires de I'Academie des Inscriptions, tome
V. with all possible care, though somewhat different from father
Kircher's copy, inserted in his Musurgia. The reasons for deviating
from this fattier are the following: in the first place he had written
it in G with a minor third ; that is to say, three notes higher than
£e
m
m
rag
e
^^*
IO2
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
the original will allow ; secondly, he had made several mistakes in
tha melody, which have been adjusted by the Greek tablature ;
and lastly, he had observed no kind of rhythm, or measure, whereas
it is now minutely attended to, and exactly conformable to the
quantity of syllables which answer to the musical notes. Indeed
the rhythm could not be made regular, the feet of the verse being
a mixture of dactyls and iambics.
This melody however is so simple and natural, that by
reducing it to regular time, either triple or common, and setting
a base to it, which it is very capable of receiving, it will have
the appearance and effect of a religious hymn of the present
centuiy.
Dr. Jortin, in his letter concerning the Music of the Ancients,
addressed to Mr. Avison, and annexed to the second edition of his
Essay^ on Musical Expression, was somewhat unfortunate, when in
his wishes for a specimen of ancient Greek melody he fixed upon
Pindar's first ode ; the only piece of Greek poetry generally
known, in which these wishes might have been gratified. "If,"
says he, "we had the old musical notes which were set to any
particular ode or hymn that is extant, I should not despair of
finding out the length of each note; for the quantity of syllables
would probably be a tolerable guide (n); and I would consent to
track the works of Signer Alberti for the tune that was set to
Pindar's Xgvoea (poQptyt;* AnoMcovos
This author goes on informing us by his conjectures concerning
what the Greek melody was, that he had never heard of the
specimens which had been published of it by Vincentio Galilei,
Bottrigari, Kircher, the Oxford editor of Aratus, or by M. Burette,
in the Memoirs of the Academy of Inscriptions.
In the postscript, however, he mentions the Oxford edition of
Aratus ; but what use has he made of it, except to tell us that he
saw there "some learned observations on ancient music, and a few
fragments of ancient tunes to some Greek odes and hymns, reduced
to our modern notation?"
Was not this the time and' place to tell us what this music
was? how far it excelled the modern? and that he was still ready
to sacrifice the elegant works of poor AJberti for so invaluable an
acquisition as the tune that was set to his favourite ode of Pindar?
Not a word escapes from the author concerning his raptures upon
seeing in venerable Greek characters, as well as in sharp-cornered
Gothic notes, this divine music, nor of the effect it had on his
passions when he heard it performed ; he only tells us that " it
came into his mind he had perused it long ago; and upon looking
now in the book, he found two remarks of the editor, agreeing with
his own notions, about time, quantity, and simplicity/' — He could
not submit either to the humiliating task of confessing that he did
not understand this music ; or that its excellence did not at all
correspond with the high ideas he ha.d, unheard, and unseen,
formed of it.
(n) It is the only guide to the length of ancient notes.
103
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
I shall bestow a word or two more upon this Letter, now I
am on the subject. The author supposes that " one great
advantage which arose even from the simplicity of the ancient
tunes, and which greatly set off their concert of vocal and instru-
mental music, was, that the singer could be understood,
and that the words had their effect as well as the music ; and
then the charms of elegant and pathetic poesy, aided and set
off by the voice, person, manner, and accent of the singer,
and by the sound of instruments, might affect the hearer very
strongly." We do not, however, often find this to be the case
with Italian recitative, though it more than answers this description
in every particular, when the poesy is Metastasio's, and the singer,
besides his fine voice, figure, and action, possesses the most
exquisite taste and expression. For even, at such time, ^the
audience is, in general, yawning and languishing for the air, which,
by its superior sweetness in melody to recitative, ^ makes them
forget poesy, declamation, propriety, and every thing but their
ears. A line of recitative, ever so pathetically, or emphatically
pronounced, seldom extorts that thundering applause from an
audience, which is bestowed on a great actor for speaking only
two or three words ; though an air sung by the same performer,
whose recitatives had been heard with coldness and indifference,
is honoured with rapturous applause, and an universal encore \
The author, in speaking of "the harmonious and unrivalled
sweetness of the Greek language/' says, "as the Latin tongue
surpasses ours in sweetness, so the Greek surpasses the Latin.
When I taught my little boy his Greek nouns and verbs" (says
Tanaquil Faber), "he told me one day a thing that surprised me,
for he had it not from me. Methinks, said he, the sound of the
Greek tongue is much more agreeable than that of the Latin. You
are in the right, said I.— By this I perceived that the boy had a
good ear, which I took as a presage that his taste and his judgment
would one day be good ; having often observed that this is one of
the earliest and best marks of a child's capacity." This observation
is, in my opinion, so unphilosophical, and wide of the truth, that
it should only have been mentioned by our author to censure it. A
good ear in a child may be a presage of his genius for music ; and
there have been many great musicians without taste or judgment in
any thing but their own profession. But some of the wisest men,
and of the greatest talents, in other particulars, I am ^sorry to say
it, have not had ear enough for music to discover the difference, not
only between good and bad music, but between one tune and
another. And yet these great and wise men, in other particulars,
think themselves qualified to write, talk, and decide, about music,
in a more peremptory manner, than those of the greatest feeling
and genius, who have long made it their particular study. Poor
human nature is never to be perfect : however the musician pities
the man without ears ; and the man without ears, in revenge,
heartily condemns the fiddling fool, who can be delighted with
such nonsense.
104
Section VIII
Whether the Ancients had Counterpoint,
or Music in Parts
THIS is a subject which has given birth to many learned
disquisitions and disputes ; and as it long remained a mere
matter of opinion, those who believed, and those who denied
the point in question, consequently treated each other with all due
polemic acrimony. The champions for antiquity thought them-
selves involved in the controversy ; and whether they were
possessed of musical knowledge, or were sensible to the charms of
harmony, or no, they determined to regard every man as an enemy
to sound literature, who did not subscribe to the articles of their
faith.
A poem, called Le Siecle de Louis le Grand, written by Charles
Perrault, of the Academy of Sciences, and brother to Claude
Perrault, the famous physician and architect, occasioned the long
and acrimonious dispute between him and Boileau, and soon
brought on a general war among the learned throughout Europe,
concerning the superiority of the ancients or moderns, with respect
to arts, sciences, and literature. This piece was first read by the
author at the Academy of Sciences in 1687, and was soon followed
by his Parallele des Anciens et des Modernes. The notes to
Boileau's translation of Longinus were intended as a reply to
Perrault ; and are full of bitter invectives, not only against him,
but the moderns in general. Racine, La Bruyere, and Fontenelle,
took sides in the quarrel, which in France was kept alive, with
great animosity, for near thirty years.
In England, the controversy between Sir William Temple and
Mr. Wooton, Mr. Boyle and Dr. Bentiey, and Swift's Battle of
the Books, were consequences of this quarrel.
Those who had written ex professo on music, had frequently
differed in their opinions concerning counterpoint having been
known by the ancients, previous to the learned, in general, interest-
ing themselves in the dispute ; and before I give my own opinion,
as an individual, it is incumbent on me, as an historian, to lay
before my readers the sentiments of others, and the reasons, or
prejudices, upon which they were founded. Many who doubt of far
more important points, though such as human evidence can never
determine, would, however, be glad to have them demonstrated.
I have read and considered the several arguments which have been
urged for and against the question, with a mind open to conviction,
105
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
and certainly free from prejudice against the ancients; for, on the
contrary, I have always admired and reverenced them in the
models they have given us in every species of writing, as well as
in the beautiful remains of their sculpture, painting, and
architecture, and therefore should most willingly contribute my
utmost in support of their claims to a melody and harmony superior
to our own, if there were facts sufficiently numerous, clear, and
indisputable, to found them upon.
However, as the whole dispute, at this distance of time, from
the perishable materials upon which the ancient symbols of sound
were traced, rests upon conjecture, or at most upon presumptive
proof ; and as I have no favourite hypothesis to support, which
would incline me to give all the evidence in favour of one side, and
conceal, or misconstrue, whatever would be for the advantage of
the other ; I shall put into two honest and even scales all that can
be urged in support of both sides, and then suspend them by the
balance, as steadily as Justice will enable me, in order to let the
reader see, and judge for himself, which of them preponderates.
The most eminent writers on the side of ancient Counterpoint
are, Gaffurio, Zarlino, Gio. Battista Doni, Isaac Vossius,
Zaccharia Tevo, the abb6 Fraguier, and Mr. Stillingfleet, author
of Principles and Power of Harmony.
Those against it are, Glareanus, Salinas, Bottrigari, Artusi,
Cerone, Kepler, Mersennus, Kircher, Claude Perrault, Wallis,
Bontempi, Burette, the fathers Bougeant and Cerceau, Padre
Martini, M. Marpurg, and M. Rousseau.
Claude Perrault, and Mr. Burette, indeed, seem inclinable to
grant it them by thirds ; and M. Marpurg by fourths and fifths.
The learned father Martini has collected many of the depositions
of the several writers on both sides, with great accuracy and
fairness ; but as I am in possession of all the books he quotes, and
of others, which it will be necessary to mention in the course of
the dispute, I shall give some account of each, before I sum up the
evidence.
Gaffurius Franchinus [1451-1522] flourished in the fifteenth
century; his writings were the first that came from the press, upon
the subject of music, after the invention of printing. One of them,
under the title of Theoricum Opus Armonicce Discipline was
published at Naples, 1480; but that in which he allows tiie ancients
to have known counterpoint, appeared first at Milan, 1496, and
afterwards at Brescia, 1502*; this has for title, Practica Musicce
^itriusque Cantus.
This author quotes Bacchius senior as his authority for the
ancients having practised simultaneous harmony ; but unluckily not
a single word can be found in that writer, which has the least
allusion to the subject. Counterpoint, as Bontempi observes, is the
Practice of Harmony, and Bacchius senior, in his Introduction to
the Art of Music, only treats of the Theory of Melody.
* The second edition of the Practica Musics was published at Brescia in 1497. 1502 is the date
of the third edition. A fourth edition was published at Venice in 151*.
106
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
Zarlino (a) \_c. 1517-1590] supposes it impossible for the ancients
to have made use of instruments of many strings, without playing
in consonance; and that the hydraulicon, or water-organ, must
have afforded them opportunities of discovering and using different
parts. In answer to the first supposition, of the ancients having
many strings upon the lyre, this did not happen till several ages
after its invention, as at first the number was only 3, 4, 5, 7, or 8;
but we might oppose to the ancient lyre of many strings, the Irish
harp, which long had a greater number than the lyre, and yet
these did not suggest to the performers upon the harp, the idea of
counterpoint, or of playing in parts; as that instrument remained
many ages a single or treble instrument, used only for the purpose
of playing a simple melody, or single part.
This is not the place in which to discuss the second point; in
a future chapter, upon the instruments of the ancients, I shall
endeavour to give my readers some idea of the hydraulicon: the
use made of it by Zarlino comes under those presumptions in favour
of ancient harmony, which, having no other support than
conjecture, can never amount to demonstration. However, if the
first idea of an organ was taken from the Syrinx, or Fistula Panis,
which, after being improved into Tibia utriculares, or bagpipes,
was further perfected by the addition of keys, as is the opinion of
Bartolinus and Blanchinus, it must have been a long time before
that instrument was capable of being played in parts, supposing
counterpoint to have been in use; and if the hydraulic organs, still
to be found in Italy, are remnants of the ancient, they will furnish
no very favourable idea of their powers.
John Baptist Doni* [1593-1647], a Florentine nobleman, who
flourished in the last century, spent the greatest part of his Hfe in
the study and defence of ancient music. His writings and opinions
were very much respected by the learned, though but litfle attended
to by practical musicians ; on which account most of his treatises,
which are very numerous, are filled with complaints of the ignorance
and degeneracy of the moderns, with respect to every branch of
music, both in theory and practice.
It is no uncommon thing for philosophers, mathematicians, and
men of letters, absorbed in mere speculation, to condemn in their
closets, unheard and unseen, the productions and performance of
practical musicians; who, in their turn, contemn whatever theory
suggests as visionary, and inadmissible in practice, without giving
themselves the trouble to consider, or even to read, the principles
upon which an hypothesis may be founded.
"Brother, brother, we are both in the wrong," is a concession
that many disputants might make, with great truth, besides
Peachum and Lockit.
It seems as if theory and practice were ever to be at strife; for
the man of science, who never hears music, and the musician, who
(«) SvppKmenti Musictdi. Venet. 1580. [1588.]
* Published in 1635 a treatise on Greek music, Compendia dal trattato def gcneri e &' modi delta,
musica, which was completed by the publication of Annotation* sopra, etc., in 1640.
107
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
never reads books, must be equally averse to each other, and
unlikely to be brought to a right understanding.
That Doni was but little acquainted with the music which
delighted the ears of his cotemporaries, appears in many parts of
his works ; and as to his belief that the ancients knew and practised
counterpoint, and that their music was superior to the modern in
every particular, it seems to have been founded upon no better
grounds than that of his predecessors, Gaffurio and Zarlino : but if
it was such as Doni has imagined, and given in example, the ears
of mankind, to have been delighted with it, must have been
differently constructed formerly, from those of the present times,
which are pleased with modern harmony.
This writer seems full of inconsistencies, with respect to ancient
counterpoint. He is unwilling that the Greeks and Romans should
be deprived of it; and yet, in speaking of its use among the moderns,
he calls it nemico della musica. His reasons for allowing it to the
ancients, are chiefly drawn from their vocal notes being different
from the instrumental ; from the early invention of the hydraulic,
and other organs; from the numerous strings upon some of their
instruments ; and from a striking passage in Plutarch (6), which he
thinks decisive, as it proves, that though the most ancient musicians
used but few strings, yet these were tuned in consonance, and
disposed with as much art as in our instruments at present. These
points will be severally considered in the course of this section.
Doni left behind him at his death, besides many printed works
upon ancient music (c), a great number of unfinished essays and
tracts relative to that subject, and the titles of many more. Few
men had indeed considered the subject with greater attention. He
saw the difficulties, though he was unable to solve them. The
titles of his chapters, as well as many of those of father Mersennus,
and others, are often the most interesting and seducing imaginable.
But they are false lights, which, like ignes fatui, lead us into new
and greater obscurity ; or, like the specimens of fruit brought from
the Land of Promise, which those in whom they excited the
strongest desire, never lived to see.
The next Champion for ancient harmony was Isaac Vossius,
who is greatly admired for his elegant and classical Latin, and
more frequently quoted in favour of ancient music, than any other
modern who has treated the subject ; but good writing, and fair
reasoning, are sometimes different things ; that is, a selection of
well-sounding words, formed into harmonious periods, may subsist
without the support of either truth or logic. Vossius, in his
celebrated book (d), seems more ready to grant every possible and
impossible excellence to the Greek musicians, than, when alive,
they could have been to ask. None of the poetical fables, or
(b) Hept Movtrt/oj?.
(c) Compend. del Trot, def Genera e M Modi della Musica. De prastantia Musicce Veteris ; and
particularly his Discorso sopra le Consonanze.
(d) De Poem. Cantu a Virib. Rythmi. 1673.
108
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
mythological allegories, relative to the power and efficacy of their
music, put the least violence upon his credulity. A religious bigot,
who insists upon our swallowing implicitly every thing, however
hard of digestion, is less likely to make converts to his opinions,
than he who puts our faith to few trials ; and Vossius overcharged
his creed so much, that it is of no authority.
He does not attribute the efficacy of the Greek and Roman
music to the richness of its harmony, or the elegance, the spirit, or
pathos, of its melody, but wholly to the force of Rhythm. "As
long," says he, p. 75, "as music flourished in this Rhythmical
form, so long flourished that power which was so adapted to excite,
and calm the passions." According to this opinion there was no
occasion for melifluous sounds, or lengthened tones ; a drum, a
cymbal, or the violent strokes of the Curetes, and Salii, on their
shields, as they would have marked the time more articulately, so
they would have produced more miraculous effects than the
sweetest voice, or most polished instrument. In another place he
tells us, that "to build cities, surround them with walls, to assemble
or dismiss the people, to celebrate the praises of Gods and men,
to govern fleets and armies, to accompany all the functions and
ceremonies of peace and war, and to temper the human passions,
were the original offices of music: in short, ancient Greece may
be said to have been wholly governed by the lyre (e)."
It appears from this passage, and from the tenor of his whole
book, that this author will not allow us to doubt of a single
circumstance, be it ever so marvellous, relative to the perfection
and power of ancient music ; the probable and the improbable are
equally articles of his belief ; so that with such a lively faith, it is
easy to imagine that he ranks it among mortal sins to doubt of the
ancients having invented and practised Counterpoint ; and he
consequently speaks with the highest indignation against the
moderns, for daring to deny that they were in possession of a
simultaneous harmony, though, according to him, they used it
with such intelligence and discretion, as never to injure the poetry
by lengthening, shortening, or repeating words and syllables at their
pleasure, nor by that most absurd of all customs, singing different
words to several different airs at the same time.
This author's remarks, however, on the little attention that is
paid by modern composers to prosody, merit some respect. He has
already been quoted in the section upon Rhythm (/), and will,
perhaps, more than once be occasionally mentioned in the course
of this work. With regard to the present question, whether the
ancients had counterpoint or not, he cites the usual passages in
their favour from Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and Seneca, all which
wifl be allowed due attention farther on.
(e) Urbes condere, m&nia moUri, condones advocate et dimittere, Deorwn et virorum fortium laudes
celebrare, classes et exercitus regere, pads bettique munia obire, &c. — Lyra e$t qua veterem fexerit Gradam.
P. 47.
109
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The name of Zachana Tevo is but little known, though he is
an ingenious and candid writer, who has read good books, ancl
reflected deeply on the subject of music (g). However, as he is^a
favourer of ancient counterpoint, whose name appears in the list
of its champions, he shall have a few words bestowed upon him
among the rest.
This author very modestly styles himself a collector and
compiler of the opinions of others concerning ancient harmony.
Indeed new materials can now hardly be expected : new conjectures
are all that time, and the many writers who have already handled
the subject, have left. After citing passages from the most respect-
able writers of antiquity, which seem to favour the side of
counterpoint, and giving the sentiments of the most eminent
moderns upon these passages, he concludes, that "from the minute
and accurate description of concords by ancient authors, it is
natural to suppose they were not unacquainted with the use of
them." But it is as necessary to know, and to ascertain intervals
in melody as in harmony, otherwise there can be no truth, or
certainty of intonation ; and this author dissembles the difficulty of
thirds and sixths being ranked among the discords by ancient
theorists. It is his opinion, however, that harmony was known
before the time of Plato and Aristotle ; but that it was lost with
other arts and sciences during the barbarism of the middle ages;
and afterwards, about the year 1430, according to Vincentio Galilei,
its practice was renewed, its limits were extended, and its rules
established on certain principles, which for the most part remain
in force at present. Indeed all that he says may be allowed to the
ancients, without putting them in possession of such harmony as
ours, consisting of different melodies performed at the same time.
The abb£ Fraguier is the next in the list of defenders of ancient
harmony. This learned academician was unable to persuade himself
that antiquity, so enlightened, and so ingenious in the cultivation
of the fine arts, could have been ignorant of the union of different
parts, in their concerts of voices and instruments, which he calls
the most perfect and sublime part of music ; and thinking that he
had happily discovered, in a passage of Plato, an indubitable and
decisive proof of the ancients having possessed the art of counter-
point, he drew up his opinion into the form of a memoir, and
presented it to the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres,
in 1716 (A).
The passage in question is in the seventh book of Laws, in
which Plato determines that the proper time for young persons to
learn music is from thirteen to sixteen years of age ; during which
period he supposed they might be enabled to sing in unison with
the lyre, and to distinguish good music from bad ; that is, such airs
as were grave, decorous, and likely to inspire virtue, from those
(g) 11 Musico Testore, or the Composer, was published by him at Venice, 1706.
(%) M. Burette acquaints us that this abbe* learned to play on the harpsichord at an advanced
age, and concluding that the ancients, to whom he generously gave all good things, could not do
without counterpoint, made them a present of tbat harmony, with which his aged ears were so pleased.
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
that were of a light and vicious cast. This is speaking like a
legislator, says the abbe Fraguier. But as harmonic composition
was very bewitching to minds so remarkable for sensibility as the
Greeks, and was, besides, of so difficult a study, as to require
infinite time and labour to accomplish, he thought it necessary to
caution them against too strong an attachment to it, and therefore
established a kind of rule, by which they would be prevented from
giving that time to musical studies, which might be better employed
in more important concerns.
This is but the introduction to the passage in question, which
is the following: "As to the difference and variety in the
accompaniment of the lyre, in which the strings produce one air,
while the melody composed by the poet produces another, (the poet
then set his own verses,) whence results the assemblage of dense
and rare, of quick and slow, acute and grave, as well as of concord
and discord (i)} besides, the knowing how to adjust the rhythm, or
measure, to all the sounds of the lyre : these are not studies fit for
youth, to whom three years only are allowed for learning merely
what may be of future use to them. Such contrarieties of different
difficulties in the study and practice of music, are too embarrassing,
and may render young minds less fit for sciences, which they ought
to learn with fac&ity."
It does not seem necessary here to enter into a verbal criticism
of this passage, as it has been understood and translated by the
abb6 Fraguier; nor to insert two other passages, one from Cicero,
and one from Macrobius, which this author has given by way of
corollaries, in support of his explanation of the passage in Plato ;
as I shall consign him and his fancied proofs in favour of ancient
counterpoint to his brother academician M. Burette, the most able
writer, in many particulars, of all those who have interested them-
selves in the dispute concerning ancient music.
The last champion, though by no means the least formidable,
for ancient harmony, was the late Mr. Stillingfleet, in his ingenious
Commentary upon a musical Treatise by Tartini (k). If strong
prejudices in favour of the ancients appear in this work, they are
natural to a man of learning and taste, who has long drank of the
pure fountain of knowledge at the source ; and Boileau has truly
said, that those who have been the most captivated in reading the
best writings of antiquity, have been men of the first order, and of
the most exalted genius (I).
Though I am not so happy as to agree entirely with Mr.
Stillingfleet in all his musical opinions, yet it is a justice due to his
merit as a writer, to confess, that I am acquainted with no book in
our language, upon the same subject, which a scholar, a gentleman,
(t) Though the abbe* Fraguier translates dyn^mnv, dissonance, it is not the true acceptation of
the word, nor can it be found thus explained in any lexicon, or Greek •writer on music ; its precise
and technical meaning will be given farther on.
(k) Principles and Power of Harmony.
(Z) Des esprits du premier ordre, des hommes de la plus hantte elevation. Lettre a M. Perrault.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
or a musician, can read with so much pleasure and profit as .the
Principles and Power of Harmony.
As Mr. Stillingfleet, in forming his judgment, was able to have
recourse to original information, his opinions seem intitled to
some respect.
Tartini, in his Trattato di Musica, p. 143 (m), advances the
following proposition: "That, if simultaneous harmony was known
to the Greeks, they could not, and ought not to use it, in order to
arrive at the end proposed ; but ought to employ a single voice
in their songs." This proposition he supports with arguments
drawn from strong reason, and deep reflection. Tartini modestly
declared himself to be no scholar ; however, he had perfectly
informed himself of the famous dispute, whether the ancients knew
and practised harmony, in our sense of the word. He seems to
have been gifted with native discernment and penetration in all
his musical enquiries, which usually conducted him to truth,
though not always by the beaten or shortest road.
Mr. Stillingfleet peaceably allows him to doubt of the ancients
having known counterpoint, during the examination of his book ;
but in the appendix to Principles and Power of Harmony, §. 181,
he takes the matter up seriously.
" Dr. Wallis," says he, "tells us, that the ancients had not
consorts of two, three, four, or more parts or voices. Meibomius
asserts much the same thing ; and this is, one may almost say, the
universal opinion. Some, however, of the writers on music have
produced passages out of the ancients, which seem to imply the
contrary, but which are not looked on as conclusive by others:
such as that out of Seneca, Epistle Ixxxiv. Non vides quam
multorum vocibus, &c., where perhaps nothing but octaves are
implied. Another passage cited by Isaac Vossius, De Poemat. Cant.
&c. out of the piece De Mundo, attributed to Aristotle, seems to be
more to the purpose, povomt] 6£eis, Sec., i.e. music, mixing together
acute and grave, long and short sounds, forms one harmony out of
different voices. Wallis also has produced a passage out of Ptolemy,
which he thinks may infer music in parts. Ptol. Harm., p. 317.
But the strongest which I have met with, in relation to this long
disputed point, is in Plato ; a passage which I have never seen
quoted, and which I shall translate."
It appears from this declaration, that Mr. Stillingfleet knew
not that the Memoir e of the abb6 Fraguier, just mentioned, was
written merely to explain this passage of Plato, and to confute that
in which Dr. Wallis denies counterpoint to the ancients. I shall,
however, give Mr. Stillingfleet' s translation of the passage in Plato,
in order to let my readers see how he understood it, before I enter
upon M. Burette's examination of the same passage.
"Young men should be taught to sing to the lyre, on account
of the clearness and precision of the sounds, so that they may learn
to render tone for tone. But to make use of different simultaneous
(m) In Mr. Stillingfleet' s Commentary, p. 70.
112
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
notes, and all the variety belonging to the lyre, this sounding one
kind of melody, and the poet another— to mix a few notes with
many, swift with slow, grave with acute, consonant with dissonant,
&c., must not be thought of ; as the time allotted for this part of
education is too short for such a work." Plato, 895.
"I am sensible," says Mr. Stillingfleet, "that objections may be
made to some parts of this translation, as of the words nvxvTijs,
pavonis, and dvTKpcovois ; but I have not designedly disguised what I
took to be the true sense of them, after due consideration. It appears
then, upon the whole, that the ancients were acquainted with music
in parts, but did not generally make use of it."
Having now ranged in chronological order the principal writers
who have stood forth in defence of ancient harmony, and fairly
stated the reasons which they have severally urged in support of
their opinions, I shall next proceed in the same manner to relate
all the different proofs alledged by those who have traversed the
cause of the ancients.
Glareanus [1488-1563] and Salinas [1513-90] are so unanimous
in thinking counterpoint a modern invention, that they make use of
precisely the same words in denying it to the ancients (n). The
Dodecachordon of Glareanus was published in 1547 ; and the
Treatise of Music by Salinas, in 1577. Their opinion was, that the
great musicians of antiquity, when they accompanied themselves on
the lyre, played only in unison with the voice; and that nothing can
be found in the books that are come down to us, which can be
urged in proof that music in parts was known to the ancients.
The opinion of Glareanus upon this matter would not have
much weight with me, had it not been confirmed by that of Salinas,
a much better judge of the subject ; for though Glareanus, says
Meibomius, was, in other respects, a very learned man, yet, in
ancient music, he was an infant (o).*
The cavalier Hercules Bottrigari of Bologna [d. 1612], was
possessed of much musical learning. He was the author of several
treatises upon music, that were printed about the latter end of the
sixteenth century, and left several others behind him in manuscript,
which are now in the possession of Padre Martini, particularly one
upon the Theory of Fundamental Harmony, in which there is the
following passage, that puts his opinion concerning ancient counter-
point out of all doubt.
"As neither ancient musicians, nor ecclesiastics, had characters
of different value to express time, or make sounds very long or very
short, they had consequently no other measure of time in singing,
(n) Sao autem dubitari vchementer etiamnum hoc estate inter exim& dodos viros, fueritne apud vetercs
hujusmodi, quam nunc tradituri sumus, musica, (Salinas ait, cantus plurium vocum), cum apud nuttum
quod equidem sciam, authorem veterem quicquam hujus cantus inveniatur. Multo minus ettam videtur
quibusdam vuatuor pluriumve vocum concentus oUm in usujuisse. Dodecachord. lib. iii. p. 195. Salinas
de Musica, lib. v. p. 284.
(o) Glareanus, homo ut c&tera doctissimus, sic in antiqua musica infans. In Aristox. p. 103.
* Glareanus is a more important figure than either Burney or Meibom allow. His most important
work is the Dodecachordon, in which he endeavours to prove that each of the Greek modes had a
corresponding one in the Church modes. There is an autograph copy of this work extant which is
now in Washington, U.S.A. A German translation by Bonn was published in 1888.
VOI,. i. 8. 113
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
as far as I have been able to discover, among the Hebrews, Greeks,
or first ecclesiastics, than that of an articulately quick, or slow
pronunciation ; nor were they acquainted with that diversity of
different parts in consonance, which in modern music constitutes as
many different airs as there are parts set to the principal melody
(£)•"
Artusi [d. 1613] , another musical writer of the sixteenth century,
whose opinions were much respected bv his cotemporaries,
expresses himself very clearly on the subject in question. "In the
first ages of the world, during the infancy of music, there was no
such tiling as singing in parts, as counterpoint is a modern
invention (?)."
The next in the list of writers of eminence, who denies harmony,
in our sense of the word, to the ancients, is Cerone [c. 1566-1613],
author of an excellent treatise upon music in Spanish, which is
become extremely scarce. This writer says "it is necessary to
observe, that the music of the ancients was not diversified with so
many instruments ; nor were their concerts composed of so many
different parts, or such a variety of voices as the present (r)."*
The famous Kepler was so far from allowing to the ancients
such harmony as is practised by the moderns, that he says, though
Plato in his Republic speaks as if something like it were in use, he
supposes if they ever had any accompaniment to their melodies by
way of base, it must have been such a one as is produced by the
drone of a bagpipe (s). This is, perhaps, being as unjust to the
ancients, as those are to the moderns, who will not allow them to
have made any progress in music, because they are unable by their
compositions and performance, to cure diseases, tame wild beasts,
or build towns.
Father Mersennus says, "as to the Greeks, and people still more
ancient, we know not whether they sung in different parts, or
accompanied a single voice with more than one part. They might,
indeed, vary the sounds of the lyre, or strike several strings
together, as at present ; but there is no treatise on playing that
instrument come down to us: however, as the ancient books on
other parts of music which are preserved, are silent with respect to
(p) Non avendo avuto i musici antichi, anco ecclesiastic* la differenza del diverse valore delle vane
note, la importantia della misurata grande, opieciola quantita del tempo di quette ; imperocche altra misura
di tempo non ko fin gui trovato, che avessero in cantando, ne gU Ebrei, i Greci, i primi ecclesi'istid, che
quella della tarda, o velocebuona lor prononcia: ne la diversita delle tante arie in uno istante medemorche
tante sono, guante sono le parti, di che la cantilena e composta. U Trimerone de' Fondam. Aim.
(?) Ne' primi secoli, nel nascere d^ questa scienza, non cantavano in consonanza, essendo che il
cantare in consonanza, e un moderno ritrovato. P. D. Gio. Maria Artusi. Arte del Contrapunto. delle
Conson. imperf. et Disson. p. 29. Venet. 1598. [1586 & 9.]
(r) Es menester advertir que la musica de los antiguos no era con tantas diversidades de instruments
Ni tampoco $us concentos eran compuestos de tantas paries, ni con tanta variedad de bozes hazian su
musica, como agora se haze. El Melopeo y Maestro Tractado de Musica Theorica y Practica.
Napoles, 1613.
(s) Etsi vox, harmonia, veteribus usurpatur pro canto ; non est tamen intelligenda sub hoc nomine
modulatio per plures voces, harmonice consonant es. Novit-ium enim inventum esse, vtsteribusque plane
incognitum, concentus plurium vocum in perpetua harmoniarum irici$$itudine, id probatione multa non
indiget. Harmon. Mundi, p. 80, 1650.
* Many authorities state that this work is merely a translation or resume* of a lost work by
Zarlino.
114
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
counterpoint, it is natural to suppose that antiquity was ignorant
of the art 09."
Marsilius Ficinus, who in the fifteenth century wrote a com-
mentary upon the Timaus of Plato, asserts that the Platonists
could not have understood music so well as the moderns, as they
were insensible to the pleasure arising from Thirds, and their
replicates, which they regarded as discords ; notwithstanding the
seventeenth, tenth, and third major, are the most grateful of our
concords, and so necessary, that without them our music would be
destitute of its greatest ornament, and counterpoint become
monotonous and insipid.
Kircher says, though the ancients may have used some of the
concords in counterpoint, yet there were others, such as the thirds
and sixths, which are so grateful in our compositions, that were
utterly prohibited ; and as to the use of discords, by which such
fine effects are produced in modern music, it was an art of which
they had not the least conception (u).
Claude Perrault, the famous architect, and member of the
Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, published a Dissertation upon
the Music of the Ancients, in 1680, which is chiefly employed in
proving that counterpoint was unknown to antiquity ; he has
manifested himself to have been perfectly master of the subject ; he
had read all the ancient authors who have written expressly upon
it ; he had examined the passages which have been thought the
most favourable to it, in some authors who have only mentioned it
occasionally ; and had considered the marvellous effects attributed
to it in others ; he reasons forcibly, and the facts he alledges in
support of the side he has taken, are strong and well stated. This
work was neither the cause, nor consequence of the quarrel between
Boileau, and his brother, Charles Perrault, which did not break out
till seven years after the publication of the Essays in Natural
Philosophy, in the second volume of which the Dissertation
upon the Music of the Ancients first appeared. Our author had
indeed given his opinion upon the subject very freely in the notes
to his excellent translation of Vitruvius in 1673 ; where,
in his commentary of the chapter upon Harmonic Music, according
to the Doctrine of Aristoxenus, he declares that ''there is nothing
in Aristoxenus, who was the first that wrote upon concords and
discords, nor in any of the Greek authors who wrote after him, that
(t) Quant aux Grecs, et aux plus anciens, nous ne seasons pas s'ils cJiantpient, a plttsieurs vote, et
bien qu'tts ne joignissent qu'une vote a leurs instrument, ils pouwrient neanmoins faire trots ou plusieurs
parties sur la lyre, comme I'on fait encore aujourdhui, et une autre avec la vote. Joint que les livres que
les Grecs nous ont laisses de leur musique, ne tesmoignent pas qu'Hs ayent si bien connu et pratique la
musique, particulierement cells qui est a plusieurs parties t comme Von fait waintenant, et consequemment
il n'est pas raisonable de les prendrt pour nos juges en cette -mature. Hannonie Universelle, livre vi,
p. 204. Paris, 1636.
(u) Musurgia, lib. vii. torn. i. p. 547-
The learned and laborious Meibomius, p. 35, who was most willing to bestow upon the ancients
whatever would redound to their honour, at the expence of the moderns, gives no proofs of their
knowledge of counterpoint. Two passages which he quotes from Bryennius and Psellus, writers of
the middle ages, shew that even in their time, thirds and sixths made no part of their Antiphonia or
Paraphonia.
"5
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
manifests the ancients to have had the least idea of the use of
concords in music of many parts (#)."
Satire is an excellent weapon when employed against vice and
folly ; but it becomes a basilisk in the hands of a man of strong
passions and little feeling, who only employs it to blast the reputa-
tion, and wither the laurels of those who differ from him in opinion,
or whom mere caprice shall incline him to dislike : it is then a
deadly instrument, an edged tool in the hands of a mischievous
child, or a madman. I have never been able to discover, after a
minute enquiry and perusal of the literary history and quarrels of
the learned in France, during the reign of Lewis the fourteenth,
any other cause for the hatred and detestation which Boileau long
manifested for Charles Perrault, but that he was a friend to the
poet Quinault, whom posterity has however allowed to be a modest
and inoffensive man, of true genius ; yet Boileau not only hated
him, and his manner of writing, but furiously attacked all who were
connected with him. In his Art of Poetry, his Satires, and in a
great number of Epigrams, he calls the most learned physician of
his age and country, "an ignorant quack, an assassin, an enemy
to health and good sense'*; and of the best architect France has
ever produced, he says, that "through pity to human kind, or
rather want of practice, he quitted physic for the trowel, and in a few
years raised as many bad buildings, as he had before ruined good
constitutions."
This shews how dangerous it is to depend upon poetical informa-
tion concerning the vice or virtue, the genius or dullness, of
individuals. It does not appear that either Quinault, or Perrault,
ever tried to retaliate Bofleau's abuse ; but luckily posterity has
done them justice ; and M. de Voltaire, among others, has rescued
their characters from the infamy with which the surly satirist had
loaded them. " Quinault," he says, "is no less admired for his
beautiful lyric poetry, than for the patience with which he suffered
the unjust severity of Boileau. During his life it was believed that
he owed his reputation to Lulli; but his poetry will alwa}^ be read,
though the music of Lulli is already insupportable. Time sets a just
value on all things."
And Claude Perrault he allows to have been not only a most
accurate naturalist, profoundly skilled in mechanics, and an
admirable architect, but that he was possessed of great abilities in all
the arts, which he acquired without a master ; and finishes his
character by saying, that he encouraged the talents of others under
the protection of the great statesman Colbert, and enjoyed a high
reputation, in spite of Boileau (y).
But to return to Counterpoint. — There is a famous passage in
the Treatise on the Sublime of Longinus, cap. xxiv., which has
been made use of in favour of ancient harmony. The subject of the
chapter is the Periphrasis. "I believe," says Longinus, "no one
(x) Les dix Liv. # Architecture de Vitntve, lib. V. p. 161, ad Edit. 1684.
(y) Siecle de Louis XIV.
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
will dispute the utility of the periphrasis in the sublime ; for as the
principal sound is rendered sweeter by what are called the Para-
phoni, so the Periphrasis often accords with the proper word, and
by that consonance adorns the discourse."
Boileau has translated <p&oyyot naQayuvoi, different parts, from
his belief that the ancients had counterpoint: "For I am not of the
opinion of those moderns," says he, "who will not allow different
parts to that music, of which such wonders are related, since, with-
out parts, there could be no harmony." But he did not know, that
by harmony the ancients always understood what we mean by
melody, as may be proved from ancient musical treatises, as well
as from a passage in Longinus himself, cap. xxxiii., where harmony
applied to the human voice in the singular number, must mean
melody; a mistake that persons not versed in music, are apt to
make. Mr. Addison talks of an harmonious voice (z).
However, Boileau, in this instance, only declared his religious
principles and veneration for antiquity, in opposition to the
sentiments of his antagonist, Perrault ; and in this he has been
rather more humble and modest than* usual ; for he concludes his
note on the passage by saying, "I submit this matter, however, to
the learned in music, for I have not sufficient knowledge in the art
to determine the point."
Upon the whole, it must be allowed, that a periphrasis, which
implies many words to express the same thing, gives a truer idea
of melody than harmony, according to the modern acceptation of
those words, and a passage varied, or a single note broken into
divisions, has a great similitude to circumlocution.
(z) This is speaking a la Grecque, and reserving the ancient and original import of the word
harmony, which implied precisely what the moderns mean by melody. The following definitions,
with which I was some years since favoured by Mr. Mason, in consequence of a conversation on the
subject of ancient music, are too applicable to the present purpose, not to excite in me a desire of
communicating them to the reader ; to whom they will appear the more important, as Mr. Mason,
however he may have wished it, has not been able to conceal from his friends, how little his genius and
taste have been confined to poetry, or how great a progress he has made in the knowledge and practice
of music. I hope, therefore, that he will pardon my vanity in thus divulging the interest he has
kindly taken in the subject of these enquiries.
MUSICAL DEFINITIONS.
Harmony of the Ancients. Harmony of the Moderns.
The succession of simple sounds, according The succession of combined sounds, or
to their Scale, with respect to acuteness or gravity, chords, according to the laws of counterpoint.
MELODY. . MELODY.
The succession of these harmonica! sounds, What the ancients meant by Harmony
according to the laws of Rhythm or Metre, or, in Rhythm and Metre being excluded,
other words, according to Time Measure, and
Cadence.
AIR.
What the ancients understood by Melody.
According to these definitions it appears that Harmony, as we call it, was unknown to the
ancients • that they used that term as we use simple melody, when we speak of it as a thing distin-
guished from modulated air ; and that their term Melody was applied to what we call air, or song.
5: this be true, much of the difficulty in understanding ancient musical writers will vanish.
If an ancient Tibicen used an improper tone or semitone, or transgressed the rule of the mode
or key in which he was playing, he committed an error in Harmony ; yethis melody might have been
perfect, with respect to the laws of Rhythm and Measure. We should rather say of a modern musician;
hi the same instance, that he sung or played wrong notes, or was out of tune, yet kept his time. Whoever
made this distinction would have been allowed by the ancients to possess a good harmonical ear,
though the moderns would call it an ear for Melody, or Intonation. I put this familiar instance only
to make the difference of the definitions more dear.
117
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Angelini Bontempi,* the next opponent of ancient counterpoint,
is truly a formidable one. He was not only an excellent practical
musician, but a profound theorist, and a scholar. With these
qualifications he read the ancient authors upon the subject of music,
in the languages in which they were originally written, and com-
posed a history of music, in one small volume, folio, which is better
digested, and better executed in most of its parts than any other,
of the same size, that has been produced.
This author, after examining all the ancient genera, systems,
and proportions, declares that it is no longer a matter of doubt
and conjecture, but a certainty, of the most clear and easy
demonstration, that ancient music consisted of only a single part, as
the treatises which are come down to us have considered nothing
more than contiguous and successive sounds, and, consequently, the
use of counterpoint was utterly unknown to the ancients : though the
moderns, without reading or understanding the doctrines of the
ancient fathers of this science, have imagined, and have persuaded
others to imagine, that they were in possession of it (a).
The learned doctor Wallis has given great offence to the
defenders of antiquity, by the contempt which he has thrown upon
ancient music, both in his appendix to the Harmonics of Ptolemy,
and in the Philosophical Transactions. His opinions are indeed
the more to be feared by them, as it could never be said that they
were founded upon ignorance ; for they were obliged to allow that
he knew more of ancient music than any modern, except Meibomius,
who, likewise, with all his knowledge of the subject, and admiration
of the ancients, could discover nothing in their musical treatises
upon which to found their claim to the knowledge of counterpoint.
Doctor Wallis, who had no prejudices against music in general,
or that of the Greeks in particular, said, that as far as he was able
to discover, the union of two, three, four, or more parts, as they are
called, or sounds in consonance, which is admired in modern
music, was unknown to the ancients (6); or, as he has translated
the passage himself in the Philosophical Transactions, No. ccxliii.
p. 298, for August, 1698: "I do not find amongst the ancients any
footsteps of what we call several parts or voices, (as base, treble,
mean, &c., sung in consort) answering each other, to complete the
music."
(a) Da questipochi assiomi o dimostratione d'Aristosseno si scopret non per dubbiosa conghiettura:
ma per chiara e manifesto, ewdewa, die la musica antica, sicome quella, che non ha considerate se non i
suoni contigui e susseguenti, altro non sia stata, che musica appartenettfe ad una sola voce ; e che I'uso del
contrapunto, non sia giammai pervenuto alia notitia degli antichi ; siccome i moderni, senza havere o
letto o inteso la dottrina degli antichi Padri di questa scienlia, si sono persuasi ; et hanno co1 loro scritti,
procurato di persuademe anco gli altri. Historia Musica di Gio. And. Angelini Bontempi. Perugia,
1695, p. 168.
(6) Ea vero, qua. in hodiema musica conspicUur, partium (w loquuntur] seu vocum duarum, trium
qvatuor, pluriumve inter se consensio (concinentibus inter se, qui simul audiuntur, sonis) veteribus erat
(quantum ego video) ignota. Appeadice ad Ptolem. Harm. p. 316 & 317, in 4to. 1682. fol. p. 175
Edit. 1699.
* Born at Perugia about 1630. After a short career as a singer at Venice and Dresden he applied
himself to the study of science and architecture. Besides the Historica Musica (1695) he published in
1660 and 1690 two other theoretical works. He also composed three operas, " Paride " (1662),
44 Pafne " (1672), and " Jupiter and lo " (1673). He died in 1705.
Ilfi
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
Doctor Wallis has indeed produced one passage out of Ptolemy,
which he thinks may infer music in parts. The abbe Fraguier,
Chateauneuf, and Mr. Stillingfleet, have all eagerly availed them-
selves of this concession ; but M. Burette has cruelly deprived them
and their adherents of that comfort, by a critical examination of
their manner of translating the passage, in which he seems clearly
to have proved that they have either wilfully or inadvertently
mistaken the true acceptation of the most important terms in the
Greek text ; and that the utmost which can be inferred from the
passage in question is, that the ancients both played and sung
together frequently in unisons and octaves.
In 1723, M. Burette published, in the fourth volume of the
Memoires des Inscriptions, a Dissertation upon the Symphony of the
Ancients, which has never yet been answered. The abbe Fraguier.
indeed, indirectly endeavoured to invalidate the proofs he cited
from ancient writers against counterpoint, by others which seemed
to bear a different construction ; but though the abbe was a man
of taste and classical learning, he wanted musical erudition sufficient
to know the technical use of the Greek words, which he thought
favourable to his argument, in writers who had only mentioned
music incidentally ; whereas M. Burette, who had drawn his know-
ledge from the source, by studying such treatises of ancient Greek
musicians as had been written expressly on the subject, soon
proved the evidence of his antagonist to be feeble, and his
reasoning fallacious.
M. Burette, after so complete a victory, was allowed to enjoy
his laurels in peace for a considerable time, till, at length, the
two Jesuits, Bougeant and Cerceau, commenced hostilities ; not for
his having treated the ancients with too much rigour, but with too
little : Le sceptique Bayle, says M. de Voltaire, n'est pas assez
sceptique. M. Burette, m the opinion of these fathers, had granted
too much to the ancients, in allowing them to have sung and played
in concert by thirds.
In order to give my readers an idea of this dispute, I shall
epitomize, and make some remarks upon M. Burette's Dissertation.
But first it seems necessary to explain a few important terms, which
frequently occur in ancient authors concerning music ; and the
safest way of doing this will be to have recourse to the Greek
musical writers themselves.
Such sounds as were tuneable, and fit for music, were called in-
all their treatises eppefais, concinnous ; and of these some were
concords, and some discords. The concords, according to the
testimony of every writer on ancient music, from Anstoxenus, to
Boethius and Bryennius, the two last, of any authority, were the
fourth, fifth, eighth, and their replicates or octaves. The discords
were such intervals as are less than a fourth ; and all such as are
found between the other consonant intervals ; consequently, the
third and sixth, as well as the second and seventh, must have been
numbered among the discords. Gaudentius, p. 11, tells us that
119
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
i, homophonoi, unisons, differ neither in gravity nor
acuteness, but are duplicates of the same sound/'
" Ivficpcovoi, symphonoi, concords, are such sounds, as when
struck at the same time on the lyre, or by flutes, so mix and unite
together, that the tone of the lower sound is hardly to be dis-
tinguished from the upper/'
" Aiaycovoi, diaphonoi, discords, are such sounds as, when struck
together, never unite (c)."
" TlaQcupuvoi, paraphonoi, are neither concords nor discords, but
between both : yet, when used together, they seem symphonoi, or
concords, as is the case between Parhypate Meson, and Paramese, or
F B ; and likewise between Meson Diatonos and Paramese, or
G B." Now we have no sounds that come under this predicament
of being neither concords nor discords, but between both, unless it
is such concords as are out of tune. However, the passage seems
to imply that about this time the tritonus and the ditone began to
be used in counterpoint.
M. de Chabanon, Memoires des Belles Lettres, tome XXXV.
gives it as his own conjecture, that the use of the Paraphonoi, men-
tioned by Gaudentius,* was the beginning of counterpoint ; yet it
is but justice to say that M. Marpurg had conjectured the same
thing in his History of Music, six years before the Memoir e of M. de
Chabanon was read. However, another conjecture of this learned
academician seems ingenious and new, which is, that in proportion
as the enharmonic grew into disuse, attempts at counterpoint became
more frequent ; for there could be no fundamental base, or
harmony, given to enharmonic melodies : hence, while that genus
continued to be so much admired and practised, as Plato,
Aristoxenus, and other ancient writers, who mention it, inform us,
all attempts at harmony must have been precluded.
It has long been a matter of wonder, that sounds so agreeable to
our ears, and so common in our harmony, as thirds and sixths,
should by the Greeks be numbered among discords, and be
banished from symphony, as their name fovpcpcova, or faaycova, unfit
for symphony, discords, implies ; but the Greek proportions and
divisions of the scale, however practicable in melody, are certainly
inadmissible in harmony.
Sir Isaac Newton, taking it, I suppose, for granted that the
ancients had harmony like ours, says, "It is very strange that those
whose nice scrutinies carried them so far as to produce the small
limmas, should not have been more careful in examining the
greater intervals (d)."
The triple progression, to which the Pythagoreans religiously
adhered, and by which fourths and fifths were made perfect and
(c) These were only admitted in melody, or a single part; hence Plutarch (de ei Delphico) calls
them ft«Xo)Sov/u.eva and j
(d) Nugcz Antiques, p. 209.
* Nothing is known about the life of Gaudentius, but an elementary treatise on music has
survived and was reprinted by Meibom. It is probable that he lived before Ptolemy as he does not
appear to have been acquainted with his theories. Some writers, however, place him between the
third and fifth centuries A.D.
120
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
unalterable, soni immobiles, could furnish no thirds and sixths, but
what were intolerable ; as their tetrachords were built upon these
B E B D G C F | Bb
numbers 1 3 9 27 81 243 729 | 2187. And the divisions of
Aristoxenus, who pretended to make the ear the sovereign judge
of sounds, and yet gives to the octave six equal tones, twelve
semitones, and twenty-four dieses, or quarter-tones, must, to our
conceptions, have rendered the scale unfit, not only for harmony,
such as ours, but melody. Aristoxenus, however, was a trimmer,
and availed himself, in some particulars, of the doctrines of
Pythagoras, at the very time he publicly condemned them. The
abbe Roussier calls him le chef des temperateurs; and it would not
be difficult to prove that a temperament was known to the ancients,
even earlier than the time of Aristoxenus ; but as such a discussion
does not seem properly to belong to this section, I shall reserve it
for a future chapter, in which not only a short history of tempera-
ment will be given, but of harmonics, or the philosophy of sounds,
as far as it appears to have been known to the ancients. At present
I shall only observe, that though the perfect harmony of fourths
and fifths was certainly corrupted by a temperament, which
rendered the perfect concords false, in order to make the imperfect
more pleasing ; yet it seems as if we were entirely indebted to
temperament for counterpoint, or music in parts ; as, without a
temperament, either occasional or fixed, thirds and sixths would
always have remained intolerable.
M. Burette by the word symphony, which is the subject of his
Dissertation, means the union of many harmonious sounds in
concert; and this is at present the general acceptation of the word,
when applied to modern overtures.
The Greeks gave the appellation of harmony, figuratively, to
every thing that had proportion. The term, however, must be
veiy cautiously used in treating of ancient music, as no decisive
instance can be found in Greek authors, musicians by profession,
where any thing more is meant by it than the arrangement of single
sounds, agreeable to some genus, mode, and rhythm; never the
union or simultaneous use of them (e).
'Aepovta, harmony, is defined by Hesychius and Suidas
?7 Ivraxros axolov&ia, a well-ordered succession ; which clearly makes
it melody. And the general title of the Greek musical treatises, in
which nothing is mentioned but mere melody, fully confirms this
definition.
Aristoxenus calls his work 'Aenovixa Iroi^ia., Elements of
Harmony; that of Euclid and Gaudentius is called Etoaycoyy aQpovixy,
an Introduction to Harmony ; the tract of Nichomachus is styled
EyxstQidtov, An Harmonic Manual ; and that of Ptolemy
Harmonics.
(e) Theocritus, Idyll, xviii. describes the bride-maids of Helen in the act of dancing and singing t
altogether:
AeiSov 8'cLpa ircur&t. e? ev jueAos eyjcporeourai.
They all sung one and the same melody or tune, beating the ground.
121
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Lucian (/), in speaking of the modes, which were only different
kinds of melody, employs this word in the same sense. And
Plato's definition of harmony (g) is a farther confirmation of its
being constantly used for melody. "We call cadence/' says that
philosopher, "the order or succession of movement ; and harmony,
the order or succession of sounds, as to acute and grave, differently
arranged and intermixed." And finally, Aristotle (de Mundo) uses
it in a sense which still fortifies this idea.
M. Burette therefore concludes, that the Greeks, in their
chorusses and concerts, sung and played either in unison, which
was called Homophony ; or in octaves, which was called Antiphony.
The acceptation of Homophony has never been disputed ; but it
may be necessary to give authorities for that of the word Antiphony,
a term frequently used in sacred music during the first ages of lie
church.
Aristotle,' Prob. XXXIX, Sect. 19, says Antiphony [Symphon-
ous Singing] is consonance in the octave : TO \L&V a.vn<pcovov
and adds, that it "results from the mixture of the
voices of boys and men (h)." The same philosopher, Prob. XVI.
after asking why Antiphony is more agreeable than Homophony,
gives this reason : that in Antiphony the voices are distinctly heard;
whereas in unison they are often so confounded that one absorbs
the other.
The ancients sung in concert not only in the octave, but the
double octave, or fifteenth. This appears from another problem
in Aristotle, XXXIV., where he asks why the double fifth, and
double fourth, cannot be used in concert as well as the double
octave? It likewise appears from the same author that the union
of two voices in octaves was called Magadizing, from a treble instru-
ment of the name of Magadis, Mayatiig, strung with double strings
tuned octaves to each other, like the octave stop in our harpsichords.*
Thus far M. Burette has advanced nothing but what is reason-
able and indisputable ; but, when he adds, that besides these two
ways of singing and playing together in unisons and octaves, there
is room to conjecture that the ancients had still another method,
which consisted of singing and playing by thirds, here the Jesuits,
Bougeant and Cerceau, commence their attack ; and here I shall
leave him, as I shall every author, however respectable, when his
reasoning does not fully satisfy my mind ; that is, when it rather
raises than removes difficulties.
(/) In Harmonide, tome i. p. 585. Ed. Graev.
(g) De Legib. ii. p. 664. Ed. Steph. In order to avoid, as much as possible, loading the page
with Greek, I shall frequently give nothing more than references to the edition, and page of the
authors in question.
(h) In the ancient Greek music the literal meaning of Antiphonia, or Antiphony, is sound opposed
to sound ; as a note and its octave, its fourth, or its fifth ; in the music of the Romish church it
means opposition of voices, response, as when the congregation answers the priest ; or in chanting,
when each side of the choir sings verse for verse, alternately.
if Again in Problem XIX, 18, he says, " Why is the consonance of the octave the only one which
is sung ? for in fact this consonance is magadized, but not the others. Is it not because this con-
sonance alone is antiphonous ? "
122
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
It is well known that there is nothing so agreeable in modern
harmony as the alternate succession of sharp [Major] and flat thirds
[Minor] ; but it is likewise as well known that a whole movement in
two parts, composed entirely of nothing else but of flat or of sharp
thirds, from the beginning to the end, would be intolerable.
Let any one make the experiment with the two stops of an
organ called the fifteenth and tierce, and he will find the effect
detestable. No organist ever attempts to play on them together,
without other stops; and in the full chorus they are so qualified
by the great number of lower and more powerful sounds produced
by pipes which are longer, and of a larger diameter, that they
cannot be distinguished without great attention.
Full organ, when only
G is put down.
Diapasons.
With these stops out, every single note upon the instrument is
furnished with its full harmony; but if the small harmonic pipes
were not governed by the greater, what a cacophony would a com-
plete chord occasion !
Common
chord
major.
t*j
Add any one discord to these, I ft} * *t» * H
and the chord seems to include
every insult that can be put
upon the ear.
:**!
M. Perrault supposed a passage in Horace could only be
explained by admitting that the ancients sometimes sung and
played by thirds, that is, in two different modes, which were
distant a third from each other.
Sonante mistum tibiis, carmen lyra
Hac Dorium, illis Barbarum. Epod. ix. v. 5.
M. Burette adopted this idea in the year 1717. In 1726 he
seemed to give it up to the reasoning of father Bougeant; but in
1729 he resumed it again with more firmness than ever, upon
being treated with some severity by father Cerceau, for having
adopted M. Perrault's explication of the passage in Horace.
123
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
It was urged against him, that the ancients always regarded
thirds as discords; but this was thought a trivial difficulty. And
M. Burette had reconciled it to his mind, he surely could not to
his ear, that it was a common thing among them to sing and play
in two different modes, or keys, at once. He settles it, therefore,
that Horace by the Barbarian mode meant the Lydian, which is a
sharp third above the Dorian.
J. Baptisti Doni, in speaking of our imitating the ancients in
musical dramas, proposes as a pleasing variety, the accompanying
some airs in the course of the piece entirely by thirds; but whether
two parts always sing in sharp thirds, or flat thirds, the effect will
be equally disagreeable. Suppose, for instance, the melody was
the following, and the upper part was the accompaniment:
Lydian mode.
Dorian mode.
These parts would be moving in two keys very different from
each other; the relations would be mostly false, and there would
be no precise idea of either of these keys impressed on the ear, in
preference to the other; and yet M. Burette supposes that Horace,
in speaking of the pleasures of the table, introduces a concert
composed of a lyre, played in the Dorian mode, and accompanied
by flutes in the Lydian; that is to say in the key of Dt|, and F #
with a minor third; as the general idea about the modes, before
Ptolemy's time, was, that they were a semitone higher than each
other.
But let them be placed how they will, either a fourth distant
from each other, or thus; d c# B A G # F# E, no two of them
can be used at the same time in thirds, without changing the
intervals of one, which would be changing the mode or key.
Indeed a melody might, be accompanied by thirds in two dif-
ferent species of octave; but that would be still in one mode; and
the matter in debate is how two persons could sing and play in
two different modes at the same time.
In the fifteen modes, as understood by Bontempi and others,
the Hyperphrygian, or Hypermixolydian mode, and the Hypo-
dorian are only octaves to each other; and in the explanation which
Sir Francis Eyles Stiles gives of the fifteen modes, there is not
only a repetition in these two, but in the Hyperlydian and Hypo-
phrygian, which are likewise octaves to each other; and it seems
to explain the Magadizing, or playing in two modes at once, more
naturally and probably, if we suppose it was done in the modes
that were octaves, than in any two that were thirds, fourths, or
fifths to each other.
134
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
This will likewise explain a passage in Athenaeus, lib. xiv.
cap. 5, concerning what Pindar says in writing to Hiero, that
" when a boy sings an air with a man, it is called Magadizing,
because they sing the same melody in two different modes." Now
boys and women naturally sing an octave higher than a man, at
the same time that they seem to be singing in unison.
Father Cerceau has pressed M. Burette very hard in this dis-
pute, and driven him to a sophistical defence. However, M.
Burette would persuade us that he has totally overthrown his
adversary, in the instances he gives of thirds, sixths, and tenths,
used per saltum, to the same syllable, in ancient melody; but
because one third, or sixth f may be pleasing in melody, does it
follow that a succession of nothing else but thirds of the same
kiad would have a good effect in harmony? If the ancients called
thirds and sixths discords, on account of their being out of tune,
from the two great perfection of fourths and fifths, which were
never tempered, it but renders the fact insisted on by M. Burette,
of a succession of thirds flat or sharp, the more improbable.
It is so humiliating a circumstance for a disputant to confess
himself vanquished, where sagacity is the stake, that it is hardly
ever done, publicly, with a good grace. M. Burette, a man of
learning and candour, when he was not hard pushed himself, could
never have defended so improbable and disagreeable a practice,
as the succession of flat or sharp thirds throughout an entire piece,
in the ancient music, for any other reason but that of having
once said it, after Claude Perrault, perhaps without sufficiently
reflecting upon the numerous objections to which such an assertion
was liable. But I am as certain as it is possible to be, of what
cannot be proved, that though he may have thought with Perrault
at first, yet, after he had read the arguments urged against such
a practice by the fathers Bougeant and Cerceau, he reasoned
against conviction; aixd in supporting his first proposition, reputa-
tion, not truth, was the object of his defence.
But to return to M. Burette's Dissertation. He examines the
structure of the ancient lyre, and the number of its strings, and
shews how far it was capable of the harmony of double stops.
After which he enquires whether the ancients availed themselves
of all its powers in this particular; and concludes that he is able
to discover no proofs in confirmation of such an opinion.
However, in speaking of the lyre in its improved state, when
it was furnished with a great number of strings, M. Burette, after
refusing counterpoint to the ancients, allows that the lyrists struck
sometimes a chord composed of the key note, fifth and eighth,
which was a fourth to the fifth; but though he supposes the ancients
could bear a whole movement of sharp thirds, he will not suppose
that a single third was ever use,d in those chords to complete the
harmony. Upon other instruments he allows for accompaniment
•a kind of drone, composed of key note and fifth, like that of a
vielle or bagpipe; but this is all conjecture; and if we must have
•125
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
recourse to that, why not generously grant the ancients counter-
point at once, upon a supposition that so ingenious and refined a
people as the Greeks could not help discovering it, with the great
time and pains they bestowed in the cultivation of music?
But not content with annihilating the harmony of the ancients,
M. Burette adopts a remark of Perrault in his Vitruvius, which
bears hard upon their melody. By comparing the ancient Greek
tetrachord with our fourth, it appeared to these writers that we
had the advantage in the number of sounds; but the specimen of
Euclid's mixed genus, that has been given, p. 41, proves them
to have been mistaken.
According to Aristotle, Prob. 17, Sect. XIX. neither the fifth
nor fourth, though concords, were sung together in concert (t).
In Plutarch (k), however, who wrote many ages after Aristotle,
when it may be imagined that symphony had made some advances
towards our harmony, it appears as if both the fourth and fifth
were frequently sounded together; whence they are called ovfiycova,
concords; but whoever is versed in modern counterpoint, must
know that a succession of these concords is insufferable, and that a
composition, in which no other concords than the fourth, fifth, and
eighth, had admission, would be so dry and insipid, that it would
scarce merit the name of harmony.*
On the other side, if, in spite of such formal and positive proofs
to the contrary, we were, for argument's sake, to allow that the
ancients made use of their four discords in concert, as well as of
the three concords, we must at the same time grant them the art
of combining different chords; of preparing and resolving .discords,
according to the rules, founded upon the nature of chords, and upon
the effect which they produce upon the ear. Now we ought to
conclude that a body of all these rules would form an essential
part of the theory of music, with respect to symphony, as other
parts have done with respect to melody, or a simple treble. How-
ever, in the most ample and complete treatises upon ancient music
which are come down to us, not one rule with respect to composition
in parts, is to be found. The authors of these treatises, after
promising at the beginning that they would speak of every thing
that concerned music, separate the heads of their work, which they
all divide into seven articles: sounds, intervals, systems, genera,
tones, or keys, mutationsf and melody, or melopoeia; which with
rhythm, or time, constituted the whole art and extent of their prac-
tical music. For there is not the least probability that they would
have omitted in their didactic writings so considerable a part of it
as counterpoint, if it had come to their knowledge.
That diligent enquirer, father Martini of Bologna, whose learn-
ing and materials have afforded me great assistance in my musical
(*) Ata irevrc «at Sto. r«(r<rap<i>v OVK a'Sowtv a'i/Ti<£ui'a.
(*) De ct Delphico, p. 693. Edit. StepJt. Gr.
* Far from this being the case, some of the examples of Organum, when sung in tune have a
effect. In the Gramophone History of Music, by
,
peculiarly pleasing and even restful effect. In the Gramophone History of Music, by Columbia.
there is a particularly beautiful specimen of organura.
126
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
researches, ranks himself among the opponents of ancient counter-
point. The opinion of this respectable judge must have great
weight with all those who consider that he has spent the chief part
of a long and laborious life in the study of music, and musical
literature; that all the repositories, all the archives of Italy, where
the most precious reliques of antiquity are treasured up, have been
opened to him; that his knowledge and materials are equally un-
common; and that the native candour and purity of his mind are
such as exempt him from all suspicion of prejudice or partiality.
This author, after shewing a strong desire to favour the ancients
in their claims, is obliged to confess, with seeming reluctance, that
as they allowed no other intervals to be concords than the octave,
fourth and fifth, with their replicates, it indubitably robs them of
the merit of haying invented and practised what we call counter-
point (I); and this decision receives additional force from the
testimony of several writers of the middle ages, cited in his book,
who call music in parts, the new music, the new art, the new
invention (m).
Padre Martini, however, before he quits the subject, gives the
following specimen of such meagre counterpoint as was likely to
have been produced without the use of imperfect concords; in which
he has been obliged to admit three sixths, a second, a seventh, and
a ninth, contrary to the idea we have of what the delicate ears of
the Greeks would allow.
But with all the care of so learned a composer, this little speci-
men seems made up of every thing that he would have avoided,
in a composition of so few parts, if thirds and sixths had been
allowed to be used.
M. Marpurg, of Berlin [1718-95], published, in 1759, the first
part of a History of Music (n), the second has not yet appeared.
His enquiries in this work have been chiefly confined to ancient
music and musicians. He has read not only many of the authors
already cited, but several others; and has considered the subject
with the attention and sagacity of a musician of learning and experi-
ence. However, he is very cautious in delivering his opinions
m Cio essendo fiarmi qttesto bastevole a contrastare a' Greet il vanto, e la notixia del contrappunto
chenoiabbiamoorainpossesso. Sortia della Musica, torn, i, p. 174. *757-
(*») Musica nova ; ars nova ; novitwm inventum.
tn\ Kritische einleitung ixi die Geschichte und Lehisasze dcr alten und neuea MUSIK. i voL
thin \L ^tMfnMi^on to the History and Theory of Ancient and Modern Music.
127
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
concerning ancient harmony, and thinks it safer, and perhaps more
likely to conciliate parties, to grant some kind of counterpoint to
the ancients, than wholly to deprive them of it; though what he gives
them seems more to flow from generosity, than a conviction of their
just claim.
This writer sets off with allowing, that as nature does nothing
by large strides, and all the arts have arrived at perfection by small
degrees, the music of the most remote times must have consisted
of only a single part; and when the two part system was at first
adopted, discords could not have been in use. " There are no
accounts to be met with/' M. Marpurg is obliged to confess, " by
which the date can be fixed when the two part system was invented,
and generally received/' However, he conjectures, that a kind of
harmony in pure consonance, by which I suppose he means perfect
concords, of fourths, fifths, and eighths, continued from that period,
to about the time of Guido. Indeed this is not allowing the ancients
to have made much progress in the art of combining sounds, as the
example just given from Padre Martini will manifest.
M. Rousseau is very explicit upon this subject in his Musical
Dictionary, at the article Counterpoint, which he terminates by
saying, " It has long been disputed whether the ancients knew
counterpoint; but it clearly appears from the remains of their music
and writings, especially the rules of practice, in the third book of
Aristoxenus, that they never had the least idea of it."
His reflections upon this subject, in the article Harmony, are
curious. " When we reflect, that of all the people on the globe,
none are without music and melody, yet only the Europeans have
harmony aad chords, and find their mixture agreeable; when we
reflect how many ages the world has endured, without any of the
nations who have cultivated the polite arts knowing this harmony;
that no animal, no bird, or being in nature, produces any other
sound than unison, or other music than mere melody; that neither
the Oriental languages, so sonorous and musical, nor the ears of
the Greeks, endowed with so much delicacy and sensibility, and
cultivated with so much art, ever led that enthusiastic and volup-
tuous people to the discovery of our harmony; that their music,
without it, had such prodigious effects, and ours such feeble ones
with it; in short, when we think of its being reserved for a northern
people, whose coarse and obtuse organs are more touched with the
force and noise of voices, than with the sweetness of accents, and
melody of inflexions, to make this great discovery, and to build all
the principles and rules of the art upon it; when," says he, " we
reflect upon all this, it is hard to avoid suspecting that ail our
harmony, of which we are so vain, is only a Gothic and barbarous
invention, which we should never have thought of, if we ha,d been
more sensible to the real beauties of the art, and to music that is
truly natural and affecting."
This opinion is generally ranked among the paradoxes of M.
Rousseau. However, the sentiments of this wonderful writer seem
128
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
here to proceed more from a refined taste, enlargement of thought,
and an uncommon boldness and courage in publishing notions so
repugnant to established opinions, than from a love of singularity.
Besides, M. Rousseau is not the only writer on music who has
imagined it possible for melody to please without the assistance
of harmony. Vincenzio Galilei and Mersennus went still farther,
and thought that the contrary effects of grave and acute sounds
in different progressions, must mutually weaken and destroy each
other. Indeed Mersennus, in his Harmonie Universelle (o)
declares, that he thinks it no reproach to the ancient Greeks, to
have been ignorant of counterpoint.
" It is difficult/' says this father, " to prevail upon modern
composers to allow that simple melody is more agreeable than when
it is accompanied by different parts, because they are in fear of
diminishing the public esteem for the learning and contrivance of
their own compositions; which, indeed, would be the case, if a
method could be devised of finding the most beautiful melodies
possible, and of executing them with the utmost perfection.
" For it seems as if the art of composing in parts, which has
been practised only -for these last hundred and fifty, or two hundred
years, had been invented merely to supply the defects of air, and
to cover the ignorance of modern musicians in this part of
melopoeia, or melody, as practised by the Greeks, who have
preserved some vestiges of it in the Levant, according to the
testimony of travellers, who have heard the Persians and modern
Greeks sing.
"And experience daily shews, that the generality of mankind
are more attentive to pure melody, than to concertos, or pieces of
many different parts, which they readily quit, in order to hear a
simple air sung by a good voice; because they can more easily
distinguish the beauty of a single part, or voice, than of harmonic
relations; without taking into the account the beauties of poetry,
which axe certainly more easily comprehended in a single part,
than when it is accompanied by two or more parts, moving in
different proportions of time.
" But granting that great pleasure in music arises from hearing
and distinguishing consonance, a duo must be more agreeable than
a trio, as the harmony is less confused and compounded. For,
if an eighth, a fifth, a fourth, a third, or a sixth, has anything
beautiful in itself, and affects the ear with a peculiar species of
delight, the sounding each of these concords with others of a different
kind, must considerably weaken their force and effect.
"It is related of tie famous composer, Claude le Jeun, that
when he first presented his pieces of five, six, and seven parts, to
the masters of Italy and Flanders, they regarded them with
contempt; and his compositions would never have been performed
by them, if he had not written something in two parts; in which,
(o) Lit: IV. de la Composition, p. 197.
Vox,, i. 9 129
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
however, he, at first, succeeded so iU, that he confessed himself to
have been ignorant of the true principles of music/'
And this father carries his predilection for simplicity so far as
to say, that " as the beauties of a trio cannot be so easily dis-
covered and comprehended as of a duo, the mind and the ear
having too many things to attend to at the same time; when lovers
of music are more delighted with trios than duos, it must proceed
from their being more fond of crowds and confusion, than of unity
and clearness"; and compares them to " those who love to fish in
troubled waters, or who like fighting pell-mell with the multitude,
better than in duel, where a want of courage and conduct is more
easily discovered."
At the time when Mersennus lived [1588-1648], the rage for
music in many parts, and the utter neglect, and indeed ignorance,
of true melody, were such, as to render his reasoning just and
necessary; but, at present, however harmony may be sometimes
abused, it must be allowed that great and pleasing effects are
produced from it, by composers of genius, taste, and experience,
who, from the study of contrast, know when to multiply the parts,
and when to disentangle melody.
Having given the opinions of the most respectable writers on
both sides of this long disputed question, it now remains to tell the
reader ingenuously my own sentiments : and, to confess the truth,
I will venture to say, that I do not believe the ancients ever did
use simultaneous harmony, that is, music in different parts', for
without thirds and sixths it must have been insipid; and with them,
the combination of many sounds and melodies moving by different
intervals, and in different time, would have occasioned a confusion,
which the respect that the Greeks had for their language and
poetry, would not suffer them to tolerate.*
It has been frequently urged, and with apparent reason and
probability, that ignorance and knowledge, taste and inelegance,
could not be so much united in the same people, as that they
should be possessed of every kind of refinement and perfection in
poetry, sculpture, and architecture, and yet be delighted with a
rude, coarse, and ordinary music. But stop any one principle of
improvement in an art, or single wheel in a watch, and it will
check all the rest; tie up one leg of an animal, to whom nature
has even given four, and it will impede his progressive motion.
The Turkish religion has not only stopt the advancement of human
reason wherever it has been established, but totally suppressed
all the acquirements of former ages. If, therefore, it was a law
with the ancients to regulate their melody by the length and number
of syllables; and if every thing that was thought to injure poetry,
by distracting the attention from it, and rendering it difficult to
be understood, was avoided, the multiplicity of concords in simple
counterpoint, and the contrary motion of parts in sounds of
* This is the modem belief .
130
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
different lengths, in more florid compositions, must have been held
in utter abhorrence.
But music has not always kept pace with other arts in those
countries, where they have been most successfully cultivated.
Painting, Poetry, and Sculpture, in Italy, during the sixteenth
century, greatly surpassed the Music of that period; and in France,
though the compositions of Lulli, in Louis the fourteenth's time,
were at least as much extolled by the natives, as those of the
greatest musicians of ancient Greece, by such as either heard them,
or heard of them; yet the French themselves, now, are of the
same opinion as the inhabitants of other parts of Europe have long
been, in thinking them not only greatly inferior to the best
productions of the same period in all the other arts, but wholly
intolerable and detestable.*
I well know that many passages in ancient authors are pointed
out as favourable to the side of music in parts; but what can not
be found there by those who are determined to see whatever they
seek? However, counterpoint seems as much a modern Discovery,
as gunpowder, printing, the use of the compass, or circulation of
the blood; and if more proofs against its ever having existed are
not given, it is not for want of them, but for fear of tiring the
reader. One observation more, however, I must add, as it seems
conclusive, and has not, to my knowledge, been urged by any other
writer: it is generally allowed that the ecclesiastical modes, and
Canto Fermo of the Romish church, are remains of the ancient
Greek music; and as these have ever been written in manuscript
missals, without parts, and been always chanted in unisons and
octaves, it is a strong presumptive proof, among others, against
the ancients having had counterpoint, as this species of melody is
so slow and simple, as to be more capable of receiving, and, indeed,
to stand more in need of, the harmony of different parts, than
any other.
The chief use, therefore, which the ancients made of concords
in music, seems only to ascertain intervals and distances; as in
our first lessons of solmisation it has been customary to spell
intervals, as it were, by naming the intermediate sounds; as do re
mi, do mi', do re mi fa, do fa] do re mi fa sol, do sol, &c.
Upon the whole, therefore, it seems demonstrable, that harmony,
like ours, was never practised by the ancients: however, I have
endeavoured to 'shew, that the stripping their music of counter-
point does not take from it the power of pleasing, or of producing
great effects; and, in modern times, if a Farinelli, a Gizziello, or a
Cafarelli, had sung their airs wholly without accompaniment
they would, perhaps, have been listened to but with still more
pleasure. Indeed the closes of great singers, made wholly without
accompaniment, are more attended to than all the contrivance of
complicated parts, in the course of the airs which they terminate.
* This statement may have been correct in the eighteenth century, but it does not hold good
to-day.
13*
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
An elegant and graceful melody, exquisitely sung by a fine
voice, is sure to engage attention, and to create delight without
instrumental assistance; and in a solo, composed and performed by
a great master, the less the accompaniment is heard, the better.
Hence it should seem as if the harmony of accumulated vocal
parts, or the tumult of instrumental, was no more than a succeda-
neum to a mellifluous voice, or single instrument of the first class,
which is but seldom found. However, to diversify and vary our
musical amusements, and to assist in dramatic painting, a full
piece, and a well written chorus, have their peculiar merit, even
among songs and solos, however elegant the composition, or perfect
the performance.
Section IX
Of Dramatic Music
ARISTOTLE tells us, in his Poetics, that music,
is an essential part of tragedy; but how it became essential,
this philosopher does not inform us. M. Dacier has
endeavoured to supply this omission, by suggesting, that custom,
and a natural passion implanted in the Greeks for music, had
incorporated it into their drama. Indeed Aristotle calls it, in the
same work, " the greatest embellishment that tragedy can receive."
And innumerable passages might be quoted from other ancient
writers, to prove, that all the dramas of the Greeks and Romans
were not only sung, but accompanied by musical instruments.
However, many learned critics, not reflecting upon the origin
of tragedy, and insensible, perhaps, to the charms of melody, have
wondered how so intelligent a people as the Greeks could bear to
have their dramas sung. But as antiquity is unanimous in deriving
the first dramatic representations at Athens from the Dithyrambics,
or songs, sung in honour of Bacchus, which afterwards served as
chorusses to the first tragedies, we need not wonder at the
continuation of music in those chorusses, which had been always
sung.* Nor will the custom of setting the Episodes, as the acts
of a play were at first called, appear strange to such as recollect
that they were written in verse, and that all verse was sung,
particularly such as was intended for the entertainment of the
public, assembled in spacious theatres, or in the open air, where
it could only be heard by means of a very slow, sonorous, and
articulate utterance (a).
It is true that tragedy is an imitation of nature; but it is an
exalted and embellished nature; take away music and versification,
and it loses its most captivating ingredients. Those who think it
unnatural to sing during distress, and the agonies even of death,
forget that music is a language that can accommodate its accents
and tones to every human sensation and passion; and that the
(a) Quintilian, lib. i. cap. 8. says, that " children should be taught to read verse differently from
prose ; for verse is a kind of music ; and the poets tell us themselves that they sing ; but this must not
be overdone, in a •whining effeminate tone, as if they were really singing a song.— Some, he continues
will have it, that children should recite verses like actors on the stage ; but this is not my opinion ;
nothing more is necessary than a gentle inflection of the voice, merely to distinguish what the poet says
himself, from what he makes others say."
* " Peisistratus revived or amplified the vintage festival, which had been held from early ages
in honour of Dionysus ... At this new festival which was called the Great Dionysia, the old dances and
songs performed originally by peasants dressed up as satyrs, were in course of time combined with
dialogue and with representations of old legends, and this ' goat song ' performance developed little
by little into the Attic drama " (H. B. CotteriU, Ancient Greece, 1913, p. 175).
133
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
colouring of these on the stage must be higher than in common
life, or else why is blank verse, or a lofty and figurative language,
necessary (&).
From these, and other circumstances, mentioned in the course
of this section, there can remain no doubt but that the ancient
dramas were sung: dramatic recitation having been constantly
called by the Greeks, pekoe, melody, and by the Latins, modulatio,
modus, canticum, and other musical terms, which imply singing.
Indeed, so immense was the size of the theatres of Greece and
Italy, that we may naturally conclude a musical declamation for
the stage to have been a necessary consequence of speaking loud;
for whoever shouts, hallows, or bawls, with sufficient force to be
heard further than common speech can penetrate, makes use of
fixed tones, which, if softened, would become musical: and it is
well known that the tones of speech are too transient and undeter-
mined to be ascertained by those of music, or to be audible at a
great distance, or in a wide space (c).
This want of natural power of voice sufficient to be heard in
the open air, for the ancient theatres had no cover, and by a great
multitude, gave rise not only to singing upon the stage, but,
perhaps, to chanting in the church. The necessity of augmenting
the force of a performer's voice by every possible means, likewise
first suggested the idea of metallic masks, which were used by the
actors upon the principle of speaking-trumpets, and to that of the
Echeia, or harmonic vases; two expedients so peculiar to the
ancient drama, that it seems necessary to give some account of
them.
The mask was called by the Latins persona, from personare, to
sound through; and delineations of such masks as were used in each
piece, were generally prefixed to it, as appears from the Vatican
Terence. Hence dramatis persona, masks of the drama; which
words, after masks ceased to be used, were understood to mean
persons of the drama.
Quintilian, lib. ii. gives a list of invariable masks appropriated
to different characters, to which the public had for many ages been
accustomed. And Julius Pollux (d) is still more ample in his
account of theatrical masks, used in Tragedy, Satyr, and Comedy.
(6) The stage cannot subsist without exaggeration ; as verse is the exaggeration of common
speech, so music is that of verse ; in like manner exaggerated gesture becomes dancing. M. Marmontel
in the Encyclopedic, Art. Declamation, says, that the whole merit of speaking on the stage consists in
being natural ; and of acting, in being well acquainted with the customs and manners of the world.
Now nature cannot be taught, nor can the manners of society be learned from books ; yet 1 shall give
here an excellent reflection from this author, which seems to approximate parties, by making allowance
for a small deviation from the nature of common life, in favour of the poet and the actor, whose writings
and speech are somewhat more inflated when the buskin is on, than at other times.
« For the same reason as a picture, which is to be seen at a distance, requires bolder strokes and
higher colouring, the theatrical voice must be pitched higher, the language be more lofty, and the
pronunication more accentuated, than in society, where we communicate our ideas with more facility,
but always in proportion to the perspective ; that is to say, in such a manner that the tone of voice
should be softened and diminished to the degree of nature, before it arrives at the ear of those to whom
it is addressed."
(c) The theatre built by Augustus, and dedicated to the memory of his nephew Marcellus, though
one ot the smallest in Rome, contained 22,000 people ; and, according to Pliny, lib. xxxvi. cap. 15. the
theatre of Pompey was sufficiently spacious to admit 40,000 people, and that of Scaurus 80,000.
(4) Lib. iv. cap. 19. Ilept irpwruirw rpayiieiav Sarvpuecti', xai KtofUKwi/.
134
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
Niobe, weeping; Medea, furious; Ajax, astonished; and Hercules,
enraged. In comedy, the slave, the parasite, the clown, the
captain, the old woman, the harlot, the austere old man, the
debauched young man, the prodigal, the prudent young woman,
the matron, and the father of a family, were all constantly
characterised by particular masks. This custom is, in some
measure, still preserved in the Italian comedy, and in our panto-
mime entertainments, which originated from it (e).
" The spectators/* says du Bos, speaking of the ancient
theatre, " lost but little on the side of -face-playing* by the intro-
duction of masks] for not one third of the audience were near
enough to the actor to discern the play of muscles, or working of
the passions in the features of his face; at least to have received
pleasure from them; for an expression must have been accompanied
with a frightful grimace and distortion of visage, to be perceptible
at so great a distance from the stage (/)."
With respect to the Echeia, or vases, used in theatres for the
augmentation of sound, Vitruvius, book V. cap. 5, tells us, that
they were placed in cells or niches, between the rows of seats
occupied by the spectators, to which the voice of the actor had
free passage; that they were made of brass, or earthen ware, and
proportioned in magnitude to the size of the building; and lastly,
that in the small theatres, they were tuned in harmonica! propor-
tions of fourths, fifths, and eighths, with their replicates; and in
theatres of great magnitude, there was a vase to correspond with
every sound in the disdiapason, or great musical system, in all
the genera.
The Romans, according to the same author, were obliged to the
Greeks for this invention, as well as for tragedy itself. For the
Eckeia were brought first into Italy from Corinth, by Mummius (g).
Perhaps they had something of the effect of the whispering gallery
at St. Paul's church, which, by its orbicular form, augments sound
in the same manner as the belly of an instrument, a hogshead,
or a draw-well.
(e) The ancients had three several kinds of masks ; the tragic, comic, and satiric. Lucian, dt
Saltat. speaks still of a fourth kind, peculiar to dancers, of which the mouths were shut ; whereas the
others were always open, and of an enormous size.
(/) For the form of these masks, see Plate IV. No. i, 2, and 3. No. i is taken from an antique
figure in metal, of Greek sculpture ; the mask covered the whole head of a person singing on the stage.
No. 2, is likewise taken from an antique mask in metal. It has a large mouth in the shape of a shell ;
and by the horror expressed in the countenance, it seems to have been the mask of a tragic actor,
reciting some terrible event upon the stage. " The wide mouth, in the form of a shell," says Ficoroni,
" so common in the ancient masks, served to augment the power of the voice, upon the principle of a
speaking trumpet/' Quetta tea a amchigUa, che si vede in altre mascherff, sennoa per ingrandire la
•ooce, come sttccede nette trombe a proporzione. Le Maschere Sceniche, cap. xvii. and xxii. See likewise
Darter's and Oilman's Terence. No. 3 is taken from the mask held in the hand of Thalia, the comic
muse, one of the most perfect and beautiful of the ancient paintings in the musauni at Portia ; it was
dug out of Pompeii. See Antich. de Ercolano, torn. ii. That the mask was an Egyptian invention
seems certain, by one that is preserved in the Brandenburg collection, and -a drawing of it published
by Berger. It represents Isis, is gigantic, and covered with hieroglyphics, some of which have extended
wings, like those to be seen in the Isiac table.
(g) Vitruvius continues to these vessels the Greek name— Vasa £re*-<nte Gtaci Echeia vocantur,
as more expressive of their use than any term he could find in the Latin language. Hrac?,
from Hxew, implying not only a vase, but one that is sonorous and musical. As the word bell,
in English, conveys at once an idea of the form, as well as use, of such an instrument
133
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Sir Francis Bacon long since observed, that sound diffuses and
pastes itself in open air, but if inclosed and confined in a canal, or
narrow limits, its force is augmented ; and adds, that inclosures
not only encrease and fortify sound, but preserve it (h). Resonance
is but an aggregate of echos, or of quick repetitions and returns
of the same sound, which soon uniting into one point, are
consolidated and embodied; and by this means, the force of the tone
first given is greatly augmented upon the delivery, and preserved
some time after the first cause ceases. This constitutes the ringing
of musical instruments, and places favourable to sound ; but with
respect to the whisper, which is instantly carried from the person
who utters it, to the opposite side of the gallery, it runs along the
smooth surface of the wall, and arrives at the place of its destination
with nearly the same degree of force as it is delivered.
It is not easy now, however, to describe, or even to conceive,
the form and effects of the theatric vases ; it is enough for the
present purpose that their existence and use are recorded by so
scientific a writer as Vitruvius. Our smaller theatres, luckily, are
in want of no such helps ; but this is certain, if these vessels were
tuned to musical tones and intervals, nothing but noise and
confusion could be produced from them by common speech, or such
as is used in modern declamation. For if any one cough, speak loud,
or strike forcibly upon the case of a harpischord, with the lid
propped up, or on any hard body near it, the shock will make every
string in the instrument sound at the same instant ; but if a fixed
and musical tone be produced by the voice, or upon a violin or
flute, none but the unison will be heard upon the harpsichord ; and
though the cloathing of the jacks be in close contact with all the
strings, which renders it impossible to produce a clear tone from
any one of them, by the common means of quills, or hammers, yet
if any person sing near them, every note will be exactly echoed
by the instrument.
If, therefore, these Echeia were of the use related by Vitruvius,
it must have been from the voice approaching them in fixed and
musical tones, modulated in unison with the tones of the vases (i).
Every thing was upon a large scale in the ancient theatres. The
figure, features, and voice, were all gigantic. The voice was, in
a particular manner, the object of an actor's care ; nothing was
omitted, says father Brumoy, that could render it more sonorous ;
even in the heat of action it was governed by the tones of instru-
ments, that regulated the intervals by which it was to move, and to
express the passions.
What kind of music was applied to the Episodes and Chorusses
of tragedy, is another enquiry : some idea may perhaps be obtained
concerning it, without having recourse to conjecture; for Plutarch
(h) Nat. Hist. Cent. 2d and sd.
(*) The best commentary upon this obscure subject in Vitruvius is that of Penault, who has given
an engraving of part of an ancient theatre, on purpose to exhibit the situation of the harmonic vases.
Les dix Litres d' Architecture de Vitruve, Par. i68a, ad Edit, folio. Kircher, whose pen was never
impeded by doubts or difficulties, has not only described, but given them, imaginary forms resembling
bells. See Musurgia, torn. ii. p. 285.
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
(k) tells us, that the dithyrambic and tragic poets, adopted for
their pieces that kind of musical execution, of which Archilochus
[c. 714-676 B.C.] is said to have been the inventor (I). The same
author likewise informs us, that Archilochus performed the music to
his Iambic verses in two different ways ; reciting some of them with
an accompaniment, and singing others, while instruments servilely
performed the same notes as the voice ; and this was the method
which the tragic poets afterwards adopted (m).
We learn from this same work of Plutarch, that even the
declamatory Iambics were accompanied by the Cithara, and other
instruments ; but as the emuloyment of the Cithara upon these
occasions was not constant, it seems as if only the general tone of
declamation was given to the actor by the musician, as the chord
is given to the singer in modern recitative ; whereas in the chorus,
and other poetry that was sung, the instrument constantly
accompanied the voice, note for note.
Hence it appears that the ancient dramatic writers used a
different kind of melos for the declamation of the actors, and for the
songs of the chorus (n). The one may perhaps be compared to
modern recitative, and the other to chanting in the Romish
church (o).
That this music was simple, and intended to render speech more
articulate, as weU as to fortify passion, both reason, and the
authority of ancient writers enable us to believe.
Plutarch (p) says, " that the chromatic genus was never used
in tragedy/' Now, if the ancient dramas were declaimed in a
species of recitative, it will bring it still nearer the recitative of
modem musical dramas, in which no chromatic is ever admitted.
Plutarch likewise informs us, that a strict rhythm, or measure,
was not observed in tragedy ; another circumstance resembling
modern recitative, in which no time is kept but that of the accent
and cadence of the verse. And this assertion of Plutarch seems
to agree with what Aristotle says in his Poetics, chap. 1. " That
dithyrambics, nomes, tragedies, and comedies, use alike number,
verce, and harmony, with this difference, that in some all three
are employed at once, in others, they are used separately."
By number, or rhythm, is here meant regular time: and by
harmony, music, or song. In dithyrambics and nomes the verse
(k) De Mttsica.
(Z) Archilochus flourished about six hundred and sixty years before Christ.
(m) Iambics, or satyrs, are supposed to have given birth to comedy, as dithyrambics did to
tragedy ; and it is somewhat remarkable that religious mysteries should have furnished subjects for
the first dramatic exhibitions among the ancients as well as the moderns.
(») Aristotle, in his Poetics, chap, xxvii. speaks of two different kinds of rhapsodists ; one of
which rented epic poems, and the other sung them.
(o] Father Menestrier coniectures, that the practice of chanting and singing in the church, was
derived from the ancient manner of declaiming and singing in public. TfaHf Jes Representations en
Musiqut, Anc. ft Mod.
(p) Ubi supra,
137
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
was always accompanied by melody, rhythm, and dance (q) ;
and in tragedy and comedy, the verse was only recited during the
course of the acts ; but in the choruses it was accompanied by
singing and dancing.
As candour forbids the loading the ancients with more customs,
that are repugnant to modern ideas of propriety, than can be
warranted by good authority, I shall endeavour to acquit them of
some part of that excessive fondness for dancing, which many
writers have laid to their charge, by supposing that not only the
chorus, but the principal characters of the drama, were continually
dancing all the time they were upon the stage. Indeed XOQOS,
chorus, equally means a band of singers, and a company of dancers.
Many instances occur however, in ancient authors, where dancing
in the old drama of the Greeks, seems but another word for moving
and acting gracefully ; and the term hypocritic, which the Greeks
likewise call orchesis, and the Latins saltatio, though it sometimes
means dancing, more frequently is used to express Gesture, or
theatrical action. In the younger drama, according to Lucian (r),
a single dancer, or mime, was able to express all the incidents
and sentiments of a whole tragedy, or epic poem, by dumb signs,
but still to music, as the actors recited it ; though Aristotle expressly
says, that dancers want neither poetry nor music, as by the
assistance of measure and cadence only, they can imitate human
manners, actions, and passions.
The strange custom of dividing the declamation and gestures, or
speaking and acting, between two persons, was never thought of
by the Greeks. It is mentioned by Livy as an invention of Livius
Andronicus, an old Roman poet, who flourished two hundred and
forty years before Christ, in order to save himself the fatigue of
singing in his own piece; to which he, like other authors of his time,
had been accustomed. But being often encored, and hoarse with
repeating his canticle or song, he obtained permission to transfer the
vocal part to a young performer, retaining to himself only the
acting, which he was able to go through with the more fire and
propriety, says Livy, by being exempted from the labour of sing-
ing. M. Duclos endeavours to prove, that as the Canticum of
Andronicus was composed of songs and .dances, the words of Livy,
canticum egisse aliquanto magis vigenti motu, quia nikil vocis usus
impediebat, imply no more than that the old poet, who at first
sung his Canticum, or, if you will, his Cantata, and afterwards
(q) Dithyrambics and names were equally hymns sung in honour of the Gods. The nomes were
for Apollo, as the dithyrambics were for Bacchus. Now the literal meaning of vo^os, nome, being a
law or rule, it should seem as if, after the invention of musical characters, the nomes were the first
melodies, or tunes, that were written down, and rendered permanent and unalterable ; whereas,
before that period, music must have been played extempore, or by memory ; and as Terpander, the
inventor of a musical notation, is likewise said to have set the vouot, or laws of Lycurgus, to music, the
conjecture has both a literal and a figurative foundation. Aristotle, Prob. XVII. 28, asks why such
different things as laws and songs had the same appellations ? and answers the question himself, by
saying, that before the knowledge of letters, laws were sung, in order to their being the better retained
in memory. If, according to Josephus, the word i/ojxos is not to be found in all the writings of Homer,
it must, consequently, be a more modern term. The word, however, dofs occur in Homer's Hymn to
Apollo, v. 20, though not in the Iliad or Odyssey,
(r) DeSaUationt,
138
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
danced in the interludes alternately, having sung till he was hoarse,
transferred the singing to another performer, in order to dance with
more force and activity; and thence came the custom of making
singing and dancing two .different professions (s). And it does
seem as if the separation in question was that of the singing from
the^ dancing, according to the opinion of M. Duclos; the story
which, when applied to speaking and acting, is absurd and in-
credible, becomes both natural and probable, in the other sense.
It has just been observed, that acting and dancing were frequently
confounded in ancient authors, and perhaps Livy meant no other
acting than what dancing literally implied.
The Greek dramas consisted of soliloquy, dialogue, and chorus;
but as the chorus was never adopted in the Latin comedy, it has
been imagined, that such Cantica, or soliloquies, as were full of
sentiment and passion, had a different, more elaborate, and refined
melody and accompaniment set to them, than the Diverbia, or
dialogues; and that, like the chorus of the Greek tragedy, they
served as interludes, or act tunes. But I have been able to meet
with no^ satisfactory proof of these cantica, or songs, being a part
of the piece, like the Greek chorus : for though Fkccus is mentioned
as composer of the modes, or melodies, to which all the six comedies
of Terence were sung, no notice is taken of a different music for
the cantica, or even interludes, if such there were, used between
the acts. Some of the soliloquies in Terence seem too short and
trivial to be sung to different music from the diverbia; and others,
that are longer and more sentimental, have no distinction of versi-
fication, like the o,des and choruses of Greek tragedy, to point them
out as cantica; but are all in the same free Iambic verse as the
diverbia.
Donatus, who flourished three hundred and fifty years after
Christ, tells us, indeed, that " though the dialogues were spoken,
the cantica were set to music, not by the poet, but by an able com-
poser (t)." I should therefore rattier imagine that these cantica
of the Latin comedy were real Intermezzi, or Interludes, wholly
detached from the piece, and, perhaps, not only the productions
of a different composer, but of a different poet (u).
The melody of ancient declamation being then only a species
of recitative, could receive nothing but a poetical rhythm, far less
exact than one strictly musical; exact, indeed, as to long and short
syllables, but as it approached nearer to common speech than air,
so it must have been more lax and incommensurate as to time, than
measured melody, such as constitutes air at present. Long and
short syllables are rigorously attended to in modern recitative,
the words are strongly accentuated, and yet the musical measure,
or time, is never attended to, or beaten.
(s) Encyclop. Art. Declamation desAnciens.
(t) Diverbia histriones pronuntiabat ; cantica verb temper ahani modis, non a poetd, sed a perito artts
musices factis. Scholia in Terent.
(«) That the Tibicines exhibited between the acts seems evident from a passage in Plautus, who
makes one of his .characters say, at the conclusion of the first act of the Pseudolus ; I must go in:
" Tibicen vos interea Hie delectaverit."
139
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
M. de Voltaire, so much attached to the ancient .drama, and so
little to modern music, says, we can no where find such an exact
resemblance of the Greek stage, as in the Italian opera. " The
Italian recitative is precisely the melopoeia of the ancients; and
though this recitative is tiresome in ill written pieces, yet it is
admirable in good ones; and the choruses in some of them, which
are interwoven in the subject, resemble the ancient chorus so much
the more, as they were set to a different kind of music from the
recitative; for the strophe, epode, and antistrophe, were sung by
the Greeks quite differently from the melopoeia of the rest oi the
play,
" I know," continues M. de Voltaire, " that these tragedies, so
bewitching by the charms of the music, an.d magnificence of the
decorations have a deject which the Greeks always avoided; a
defect which has transformed the most beautiful, and, in other
respects, the most regular tragedies that ever were written, into
monsters: for what can be more absurd than to terminate every
scene by one of those detached airs, which interrupt the business,
and destroy the interest of the drama, in order to afford an oppor-
tunity to an effeminate throat to shine in trills and divisions, at the
expence of poetry and good sense (#)."
The last period of this quotation proves the impossibility of
satisfying all parties in theatrical disputes; for those very airs which
are so delightful to lovers of music, and which alone render an
opera supportable to them, are regarded by the exclusive lovers
of poetry as the only blemishes in this kind of drama, which render
it inferior to the Greek. However, notwithstanding the acknow-
ledged merit of particular scenes of recitative in an opera, I am
inclined to believe, if the airs were omitted, that the rendering
this kind of spectacle more Grecian, would neither encrease the
number of its admirers, nor enrich the managers of the theatre.
Indeed all modern musicians, who have imagined that they have
discovered what ancient dramatic music was, suppose it to have
been a species of Recitative, as will be shown hereafter, in the
specimens that will be given of the music of the first operas and
oratorios.
The abbe du Bos has not scrupled to assert boldly, that the
actor, in the ancient dramas, was accompanied by a basso continuo,
not like that of the French opera, but like the base accompaniment
to Italian recitative; and determines, from a passage arxd plate in
Bartholinus (y), that the instrument upon which this continued base
was played, was a flute (z) \ With the same courage, and the same
truth, this lively author asserts (a), that the semeia, or musical
characters of the Greeks, were nothing more than the initial letters
of the names of the sixteen notes in the great system, or diagram !
Opinions which merely to mention, is to confute.
(x) Dissert, sur la Tragedie Ancienne et Moderne. (y) De Tibiis Veterum.
(z) Reflex. Crit. torn. iii. p. in, 120 and 126. Edit, de Par. 1733. (a Ib. p. 80.
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
M. Duclos, contrary to the general opinion, denies, in the article
above cited, that the melos of Greek tragedy was singing, or even
recitative, to fixed and musical tones; but if not, why does Aristotle
tell us, that music was an essential part of tragedy 1 or how could
the lyres and flutes, with which declamation was accompanied,
and of which the tones were fixed and musical, be either useful to
the actor, or an embellishment to the piece? There are several
passages in Cicero, concerning Roscius, which, if the ancient actors,
Roman, as well as Greek, did not declaim in musical notes, would
be wholly unintelligible. He tells us, de Orat, that Roscius had
always said, when age should diminish his force, he would not
abandon the stage, but would proportion his performance to his
powers, and make music conform to the weakness of his voice;
which really happened; for the same author informs us, de Leg.
that in his old age he sung in a lower pitch of voice, and made the
tibicines play slower (6).
M. Duclos, who has censured so many of the bold and hazarded
assertions of the abbe du Bos, falls into one of his worst mistakes,
by saying, that the ancient declamation, which he denies to have
been musical, was accompanied by a base part played on the flute.
But it seems demonstrable, that no kind of base accompaniment
was known to the ancients (c).
We have the authority of Plutarch, however, for the recitation
of tragedy among the Greeks having been accompanied by the
cithara, and other stringed instruments, after the manner in which
Archilochus had accompanied his iambics (d).
The Roman comedy, in the time of Terence was accompanied
tibiis paribus et imparibust with equal and unequal -flutes,
occasionally. This is upon record in all the most ancient manu-
scripts of that author. What these double -flutes were, or how
played upon by one person, has much perplexed the learned, as
well as practical musicians. For my own part, I had long been
of opinion, that the equal flutes were unisons, and the unequal
octaves to each other, blown by one mouth piece, before my journey
into Italy; and the numerous representations I saw of them there
(b) Solet idem Roscius dicere, se, quo plus sibi accederet etatis, eo tardiores tibicinis modos etcantvs
remisssiores es$e facturum.— In senectute numeros in canto cedderat, ipsasque tardiores fecerat tibtas.
(c) Though the idea of a base part to mere declamation is not prohable, yet the supposition of its
being played upon a Flute is perhaps less absurd than it will at first appear to those who regard all
Flutes as treble instruments. Arist. Quint, who gives a kind of scale of Lyres (see Description ot Plates)
gives likewise one for wind instruments. The <ra\iriy£, or Trumpet, at the grave, or, as he
falk it, masMne extremity ; and the Phrygian AvXos, or Flute, at the feminine. Of the middle
class he mentions the Pytliic Flute as of a masculine character, on account of its gramty : Sia ro £apoy.
Now according to Diomedes. this Pythic Flute was the very instrument used in the Ccmhcct, or
declamation. The melos of tragedy fe said to be Hypatoides (Arist. Quint, p. 30) ; that is, of the
lowest pitch. Accordingly, Aristotle tells us, expressly, in his Problems, that the modes appropriated^
declamation, were the Hypodorian and Hypophrygian ; that is, the two lowest in the system. The
StateSat accompanied these could not well be a treble instrument, without playing in octaves, or
double octaves, to the voice. However, if we were to suppose a base accompaniment to these low
modes, different from the voice part, it must have been performed on a Flute of an enormous size.
(d) As to the recitation of tragedy being accompanied by the Cithara, there is astrong support for
the opinion in Aristotle's 49th Problem, where he calls the Hypodorian mode used in declamation,
mSuSfow rorn TWV dp/ttJtwv ; that is, the most adapted to the dfhara ofaU the modes. And Athenams,
^^*SSsB of Sophocles playing the Cithara himself, in his tragedy of Thamyns.
141
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
in ancient sculpture, did not furnish me with any more probable
conjecture. But frequent occasions will occur of making some
further reflections upon these instruments, of which drawings will
be given, in the course of the work.
It now remains to speak of the Chorus, so celebrated in the
tragedy of the ancients.
In the most flourishing times of the Athenian republic, so
great was the passion of the people for shews and public spectacles,
that the government, which was at the charge of these exhibitions,
has been accused by Plutarch, of supporting them at a greater
expence than their fleets and armies.
The performers of the odes, or full chorusses, were multiplied
in the time of ^schylus to fifty persons. Indeed their number
was afterwards reduced by a law to fifteen. Their chief, or
leader, who was called Coryphceus, frequently spoke in the course
of the drama, as a single person, and sometimes for the whole
band, either in dialogue with the characters of the piece, or to
acquaint the audience with what was going forwards, as well as
to pity virtue in distress, or to deplore the unruly passions of the
vicious. Father Brumoy calls him l'konn§te-homme de la fiiece.
The great choruses, or interludes, were generally four in
number; and, in the beginning of tragedy, they served as act tunes.
^Eschylus first interwove them into the texture of the drama; aad,
according to Dacier, there was something different in the versifica-
tion and melody of each chorus, which distinguished it from the
rest so much, that let a person enter the theatre when he would,
it was easy for him to discover by the music of the chorus what
part of the piece was then representing.
As the acts of a play were at first but episodes, or interludes,
between the dithyrambics, or choruses; in process of time they
changed hands, and the choruses became a species of act tunes, or
interludes, to the episodes, or cantica and diverbia, formed into
scenes and acts. Dr. Franklin denies this division into acts; and
he seems right in denying the number to have been constantly
five; but that the great choruses were wrought into a more lofty
and sublime kind of poetry, and of different measure from the
soliloquies and dialogues, is so certain in all the ancient tragedies
which are come down to us, that it has been said, if during the
acts the performers spoke the language of heroes and kings, in the
choruses they spoke that of the Gods; and it is equally certain
that they were generally performed in the absence of the inter-
locutors of the play. Indeed the stage was never empty, nor were
the performers idle; so that when the choruses were incorporated
in the piece, as in some of the tragedies of Sophocles, it may be
said strictly to consist of only one act.
The Greek name for act being <$ea//a, drama, it encourages
an opinion, that in the beginning of theatrical exhibitions, each
chorus and episode was a distinct and entire piece. The Romans,
however, understood, by the term actus, a part of a play, divided
143
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
from another part; and the intermediate space of time between
these divisions was usually filled up by a Chorus, a Dance, or a Song.
In the time of Horace, the number of five acts seems to have been
settled for the Roman theatre; and in the comedies of Terence,
and tragedies of Seneca, that number is constant.
The Greek tragedies being composed of fifteen or sixteen
hundred verses, would be too long, if sung to airs like ours, and
too short, if spoken. Relaxation, however, was necessary both to
the actors and the audience; and this, if it did not give birth to the
chorus, at least established it into a custom to have a chorus
between the principal divisions of the piece.
A drama is composed of many circumstances, out of which the
poet chuses such as are most proper for the stage, and most
interesting in the representation: the rest are understood to be
transacting elsewhere; and in order to allow time for these external
circumstances, the space between the acts of ancient dramas was
filled up by the chorus, or other intermediate amusements.
In all the Greek tragedies that are come down to us, the action
is interrupted from time to time by the intervention of choruses,
which fill up the intermediate space between the principal events
of the piece while the interlocutors are either absent, or remain
silent and inactive upon the stage: and these form the true
divisions of the drama into acts. But that these acts always
amount to four, five, or any stated number, cannot be proved by
the ancient manuscripts of the Greek dramatic poets, however new
editions and modern critics may have divided them.
If the number of odes, or great choruses, is to determine the
division into acts, they amount most frequently to six or seven.
Each of these principal odes, or choruses, consisted of three
couplets, or stanzas; the Strophe, Antistrophe, and Epode.
Demetrius Triclinius, in his book upon the verses of Sophocles,
says, that the strophe was sung by the chorus moving to the right;
the antistrophe to the left, and the epode, after performing these
two evolutions, without moving at all. He asserts that, by these
evolutions, which were borrowed from the ^Egyptians, the
Greeks meant to imitate the course of the heavenly bodies; that
by the strophe, and wheeling to the right, they designed the
movement of the fixed stars; by the antistrophe, and turning to
the left, was indicated the course of the planets; and that the
epode, which was performed without any motion, shewed the
fixed situation of the earth. Pindar, in his Odes, has introduced
the same changes; probably because in singing them, the same
evolutions were performed. Theseus, when he returned from
Crete, invented a dance consisting of different turnings, in memory
of the labyrinth, which was afterwards adopted by the tragic
chorus. But as to the manner of moving from the right to the
left, it is very difficult to form any idea of it. M. Dacier says,
" I am of opinion that the chorus was parted into two divisions,
as among the Hebrews; the band to the right began, advancing
143
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
to the left half the breadth of the theatre, and this was the
strophe] the other troop did the same, and this was called the
antistrophe (e)."
The profession of an actor was long honourable among the
Greeks. Their poets, who were likewise orators, statesmen, and
generals, performed the principal parts in their own pieces; and
Sophocles, who was the first that did not appear on the stage in
his tragedies, was compelled to decline it, by the want of voice.*
Livy, lib. vii. cap. 2, tells us, that Andronicus, who first wrote
regular plays among the Latins, acted in his own pieces, as every
author, at that time, did: and all antiquity asserts, that the first
poets were musicians, and that music was inseparable from poetry :
but the Greek dramatic poets not only set their own pieces to
music, but regulated all the steps and attitudes of the dancers in
the chorus, and the gestures of the actors. It was the opinion of
Fontenelle, that musical dramas could never satisfy men of
learning and taste, till the poet and musician were again united in
the same person; and when the Devin du Village** which was
both written and set by M. Rousseau, was so universally approved,
and had so long a run during its first representation at Paris, he
attributed its great success to this union.
" Ancient Greece had many musicians/' says M. Dacier (/),
" who were not poets, but not one poet who was not a musician,
and who did not compose the music of his own pieces : Musici qui
erant quondam iidem poeta, says Cicero ; for in Greece, music was
the foundation of all sciences ; the education of children was begun
by it, from a persuasion that nothing great could be expected
from a man who was ignorant of music. This probably gave the
Greek poetry such a superiority over the Latin, as well as over that
of modem languages ; for at Rome poetry and music were two
distinct arts, and poets were there obliged to give their pieces to be
set by professed musicians, as is the case at present every where
else."
Such were the sentiments of this profound critic, and these were
likewise the opinions of the late Dr. Browne, and are those of most
learned men, who, being out of the way of good music, and good
performers of the present times, have formed a romantic idea of
ancient music upon the exaggerated accounts of its effects, which
they have read in old authors.
The abate Metastasio, more a man of the world, and more
reasonable, confesses, that the study of modern music requires
too much time for a man of letters ever to be able to qualify himself
for the business of a composer.
(«) Theatrt des Grecs, du pert Brumoy, tome 1.
(/) Remarques s-ur la Poetique d'Aristate, p. 105.
* In his sixteenth year, however, he was famous for his skill as a musician and dancer and led
lyre in hand, a chorus which danced and sang about the trophy which had been erected in Salamis to
celebrate the defeat of the fleet of Xerxes.
** Burney himself made an adaptation of this under the title The Cunning Man, which was
produced at Drury Lane in 1766 with no great success*
144
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
The Greeks, indeed, during the time of their education, had
no language to learn but their own: hence they had more time for
other studies. But with all the simplicity of their music, the
poets themselves being able to set their own pieces, and to sing
them so well to the satisfaction of the public, is to me a certain
proof that their music had not only fewer difficulties, but fewer
excellencies than the modern.
This is not the place to discuss the point ; but it appears to me
as if the being at once a great poet, and a great musician, were
utterly impossible ; otherwise why should not such a coincidence
of talents frequently happen? Milton studied music, and so have
many of our poets ; but to know it equally well with a professor,
is a drudgery to which they cannot submit ; besides, a genius for
poetry is so far from including a genius for music, that some of
our greatest poets have not only been enemies to harmony, but
have had ears so unfortunately constructed, as not to enable them
to distinguish one sound from another.
The Grecian sage, according to Gravina (g), was at once a
philosopher, a poet, and a musician. " In separating these
characters," says he, " they have all been weakened ; the sphere
of philosophy has been contracted ; ideas have failed in poetry,
and force and energy in song. Truth no longer subsists among
mankind ; the philosopher speaks not, at present, through the
medium of poetry, nor is poetry any more heard through the vehicle
of melody." Now, to my apprehension, the reverse of all this is
exactly true ; for, by being separated, each of these professions
receives a degree of cultivation, which fortifies, and renders it more
powerful, if not more illustrious. The music of ancient
philosophers, and the philosophy of modern musicians, I take to
be pretty equal in excellence.
Having now mentioned the principal subjects of the ancient
drama, as far as they concern music, such as the Masks, Echeia,
Melopoeia of the Cantica, Diverbia, and Choruses, divided into
Strophe, Antistrophe, and Epode ; the Accompaniments of these
by the cithara and flutes, equal and unequal ; the union of poet
and musician, in the authors of ancient dramas ; all which, singly,
and collectively, prove the declamation of the Greeks and Romans
to have been musical, and regulated, like the recitative of modem
operas, by a notation : I shall now bestow a few words upon the
expediency and possibility of reducing modern declamation in the
natural tones of speech, unaccompanied by musical instruments,
to a notation, such as would accurately mark the elevation,
depression, and inflexions of voice, as well as determine its
degree of force, and the accentuation of words and syllables. As
to the expediency of such an invention; it seems on many occasions
devoutly to be wished ; but, for the possibility of its being
practicable, that is certainly problematical. However, Dionysius
(g) Delia Ragum Poetica.
Vox,, i. 10. *45
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Hallicarnassus, de Struct. Oral, (h), tells us, in a famous passage
which has often been discussed, that " the fifth was the common
boundary to the melody of speech: that is," says the abb6
Arnaud (*), " the tones which constitute language, were commonly
all comprised within the compass of a fifth, and the inflexions of
voice extended to all the several degrees of that interval. Each
word had its accent ; the syllable was elevated by the acute accent,
and lowered by the grave. This rule was fixed and unalterable ;
the degree of high and low was freehand various ; and it was this
variety and freedom, which threw not only grace and variety into
the pronunciation, but which served to shew the limits and even
shades of elocution."
Many passages from Cicero, Quintilian, Plutarch, and Boethius,
might be cited, to prove, that not only musicians and actors,
but even orators, had a notation, by which the inflexions of voice,
peculiar to their several professions of singing, declaiming, and
haranguing in public ? were ascertained (k).
But orators, though not constantly accompanied by an
instrument, had their voices sometimes regulated by one, which
Quintilian calls a tonorium, Cicero, a fistula, and Plutarch, ovQiyytov,
or syrinx* which is the same thing ; and this instrument served as
a kind of pitch-pipe. Both Cicero (I) and Plutarch (m), relate the
well known story of the voice of the furious tribune, Caius
Gracchus, being brought down to its natural pitch, after he had lost
it in a transport of passion, by means of a servant placed behind
him with one of these instruments (»). It is not easy, however, to
conceive of what use this expedient could be, unless rhetorical tones
were regulated by those of music.
M. Duclos (o) denies the possibility of a notation for speech, as
the intervals are too minute to be ascertained ; and adds that,
" even if such an invention were possible, the use of it would do
more harm than good, as it would serve no other purpose than to
render actors cold* and insipid ; for by a servile imitation they
would destroy the natural expression which the sentiments inspire ;
and such notes would not give the refinement, delicacy, grace, or
(h) Sect ii. p. 76. Edit. Upton.
(*) Mem. de Litteraturet tome xxxii. p. 442.
(k) As there were combats, or contests, established by the ancients for the voice, as well as other
parts of the Gymnastice, those who taught the management of the voice wore called $wi/acncot, phonos ci,
and under their instructions were put all those who were destined to be orators, singers, and comedians.
Roscius had an academy for declamation, at which he taught several persons, preparatory to their
speaking in public, or going on the stage. He had a lawsuit with one of them, in which Cicero pleaded
his cause.
(Q De Oral. lib. iii.
(m) In Vit. C. Gracch.
(n) Cicero tells us that this tibicen, with his flapper, qui staret occuUe post ipsum, and was not seen
by the people, does not confine his employment to appeasing the passion of his master : he was, upon
occasion, to incite it : Qui inflaret cekriter eumsonum, quo ilium aut remissum excitaret, ant a conten-
tione revocaret.
(o) Encyclop. Art. Dedamat. des Anc.
* Syrinx or Pan Pipes. See an article by A. H. Fox Strangways in Music and Letters for January'
I9«9 (vol. 10, No. i). '
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
passion, which constitute the merit of an actor, and the pleasure
of an audience." To refute this assertion it should be remarked,
that a well-written, and well-set scene of recitative, from the mouth
of a great singer, and good actor, oversets all his reasoning ; for
though confined to musical notes, it has frequently great power over
the passions of that part of an audience who understand the
language. Give it to a man without voice, it will still be a fine
piece of recitative ; a bad singer, indeed, may spoil it: however,
it escapes annihilation, and still remains to be taken up by a
future performer of superior talents ; as a speech in Shakespeare
does, that has been mangled by a stroller in a barn. But it is
not to be wished, perhaps, that the tones of speech preserved by
such notes, should be more permanent than those of music. Every
new singer of peculiar powers is furnished with new compositions
to old words, in order to display those powers; so might an actor:
the plays of Shakespeare might be reset, as well as the ^ operas of
Metastasio ; and upon such an occasion it were to be wished that
Mr. Garrick would undertake to be the Composer.
M. Duclos throws the impracticability of such an expedient upon
the multiplicity of notes that would be necessary for such minute
inflexions; a difficulty that seems obviated by the passage just cited
from Dionysius; which says, that the compass of voice in declama-
tion, even during a scene of passion, seldom exceeds the interval of
a fifth. I therefore cannot help giving a place to the invention of
characters, for theatrical elocution among musical desiderata (p).
Mr. Garrick, indeed, with seeming reason, objects to the use of them
for himself, as " they would render his declamation cold and mono-
tonous, and deprive him of the power of varying the tones of his
voice, according to his present feelings." But in answer to this
it might be urged, that a great singer, notwithstanding the outline
that is given him by the composer, seldom performs an air twice in
the same manner; though, on account of the accompaniments, and
regularity of the measure, to which every change, or embellishment,
must correspond, it is much more difficult to vary musical sounds in
melody, than the tones of speech in .declamation, which^ are not
only unconnected with other parts, but uncontrouled by time.
It is far from being my wish ever to hear our tragedy sung,
or pronounced in recitative, however desirable it may be to pre-
serve the tones of voice used by great actors, if it were only to
assist the young, the ignorant, and unfeeling candidates for
theatrical fame.
Moliere, when he performed in his own plays, and Beaubourg,
the actor, are confidently affirmed, by the abbe du Bos, to have
noted their particular scenes of .declamation (q). This author says
that he does not wonder at actors by profession being, in general,
(ft Since the publication of the first edition of this vol. the particular desideratum in question has
been as amply supplied as seems possible, by .Mr. Steele, in his ingenious Essay towards establishing the
Melody and Measure of Speech.
(q) Reflex, Crit. tome iii, sect, 18,
147
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
against such restraint; mankind is naturally fond of liberty in all
things : il ne veut pas etre contmint dans ses allures; they will not
be confined in their natural gait, says Montaigne. But though
actors and actresses of the first class are sure to charm an audience,
let their humour be what it will, yet the notation of the tones, in
which a favourite and affecting speech was spoken by a Garrick,
or a Gibber, would not only be an excellent lesson to inferior actors
but would be a means of conveying it to posterity, who will so
frequently meet with their names and elogiums, in the History
of the Stage, and be curious to know in what manner they acquired
such universal admiration.
148-
Section X
Of the Effects Attributed to the
Music of the Ancients
MATERIALS for this part of my Dissertation are so numerous,
that if I were only to present the reader with all the stories
that have been related by the most grave and respectable
historians and philosophers of Greece and Rome, concerning the
moral, medicinal, and supernatural powers of ancient music, this
section would be as full of the miracles of musicians, as the Golden
Legend is of those operated by the saints. The credulous and
exclusive admirers of antiquity have, however, so long read and
reverenced all these narrations, that they are impressed by them
with an extravagant idea of the excellence of ancient music, which
they are very unwilling to relinquish; and yet, after a most careful
investigation of the subject, and a minute analysis of this music,
by examining its constituent parts, I have not been able to discover
that it was superiour to the modern in any other respects than its
simplicity, and strict adherence to metrical feet, when applied to
poetry. For, as music, considered abstractedly, it appears to have
been much inferiour to the modern, in the two great and essential
parts of the art, melody and harmony.
It shall therefore be my business in this section to collect and
examine the principal facts, purely historical, that have been
related by ancient writers, and which are urged by the moderns
in its favour, under the three following heads :
First, of the effects of ancient music in softening the manners,
promoting civilization, and humanizing men, naturally savage and
barbarous : —
Secondly, its effects in exciting, or repressing the passions :
And, thirdly, its medicinal power, in curing .diseases.
Among the effects of the first class, one of the most singular
aixd striking is related by Polybius the historian, a grave, exact,
and respectable writer, who, in speaking of several acts of cruelty
and injustice exercised by the JStolians against their neighbours the
Cynaetheans, has the following remarkable passage, which I shall
give at full length from Mr. Hampton's excellent translation.
" With regard to the inhabitants of Cynaetha, whose misfor-
tunes we have just now mentioned, it is certain, that no people ever
were esteemed so justly to deserve that cruel treatment to which
they were exposed. And since the Arcadians, in general, have been
149
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
always celebrated for their virtue throughput all Greece; and have
obtained the highest fame, as well by their humane and hospitable
disposition, as from their piety also towards the Gods, and their
veneration of all things sacred; it may perhaps be useful to enquire,
from whence it could arise, that the people of this single city,
though confessed to be Arcadians, should, on the contrary, be noted
for the savage roughness of their lives and manners, and distin-
guished by their wickedness and cruelty above all the Greeks. In
my judgment then, this difference has happened from no other
cause, than that the Cynsetheans were the first and only people
among the Arcadians, who threw away that institution, which their
ancestors had established with the greatest wisdom, and with a
nice regard to the natural genius, and peculiar disposition of the
people of the county ; I mean, the discipline and exercise of music :
of that genuine and perfect music, which is useful indeed in every
state, but absolutely necessary to the people of Arcadia. For we
ought by no means to adopt the sentiment that is thrown out by
Eptiorus in the preface to his history, and which indeed is very
unworthy of that writer, " That music was invented to deceive and
delude mankind." Nor can it be supposed, that the Lacedae-
monians, and the ancient Cretans, were not influenced by some
good reason, when, in the place of trumpets, they introduced the
sound of flutes, and harmony of verse, to animate their soldiers
in the time of battle: or that the first Arcadians acted without
strong necessity, who, though their lives and manners, in all other
points, were rigid and austere, incorporated this art into the very
essence of their government; and obliged not their children only,
but the young men likewise, till they had gained the age of thirty
years, to persist in the constant study and practice of it. For all
men know, that Arcadia is almost the only country, in which the
children, even from their most tender age, are taught to sing in
measure their songs and hymns, that are composed in honour of
their gods and heroes : and that afterwards, when they have learned
the music of Timotheus and Philoxenus, they assemble once in
every year in the public theatres, at the feast of Bacchus; and there
dance, with emulation, to the sound of flutes, and celebrate, accord-
ing to their proper age, the children those that are called the puerile,
and the young men, the manly games. And even in their private
feasts and meetings, they are never known to employ any hired
bands of music for their entertainment; but each man is oblig.ed
himself to sing in turn. For though they may, without shame or
censure, disown all knowledge of every other science, they dare
not on the one hand dissemble or deny, that they are skilled in
music, since the laws require, that every one should be instructed
in it; nor can they, on the other hand, refuse to give some proofs
of their skill when asked, because such refusal would be esteemed
dishonourable. They are also taught to perform in order all the
military steps and motions, to the sound of instruments : and this
is likewise practised every year in the theatres, at the public charge,
and in sight of all the citizens.
150
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
" Now to me it is clearly evident, that 'the ancients by no means
introduced these customs, to be the instruments of luxury and idle
pleasure: but because they had considered with attention, both
the painful and laborious course of life, to which the Arcadians
were accustomed; and the natural austerity also of their manners,
derived to them from that cold and heavy air, which covered the
greatest part of all their province. For men will be always found
to be in some degree assimilated to the climate in which they live :
nor can it be ascribed to any other cause, that in the several
nations of the world, distinct and separated from each other, we
behold so wide a difference, in complexion, features, manners,
customs. The Arcadians, therefore, in order to smooth and soften
that disposition, which was by nature so rough and stubborn,
besides the customs above described, appointed frequent festivals
and sacrifices, which both sexes were required to celebrate
together; the men and women, and the boys with virgins; and, in
general, established every institution, that could serve to render
their rugged minds more gentle and compliant, and tame the
fierceness of their manners. But the people of Cynaetha, having
slighted all these arts, though both their air and situation, the most
inclement and unfavourable oi any in Arcadia, made some such
remedy more requisite to them than to the rest, were afterwards
engaged continually in intestine tumults and contentions; till they
became at last so fierce and savage, that, among all the cities ot
Greece, there was none in which so many and so great enormities
were ever known to be committed. To how deplorable a state
this conduct had at last reduced them, and how much their
manners were detested by the Arcadians, may be fully understood
from that which happened to them, when they sent an embassy to
Lacedaemon, after the time of a dreadful slaughter which had been
made among them. For in every city of Arcadia, through which
their deputies were obliged to pass, they were commanded by the
public crier instantly to be gone. The Mantineans also expressed
even still more strongly their abhorrence of them : for as soon as
they were departed, they made a solemn purification of the place;
and carried their victims in procession round the city, and through
all their territory.
" This then may be sufficient to exempt the general customs of
Arcadia from all censure; and at the same time to remind the people
of that province, that music was at first established in their
government, not for the sake of vain pleasure and amusement, but
for- such solid purposes, as should engage them never to desert the
practice of it The Cynsetheans also may perhaps draw some
advantage from these reflexions; and, if the Deity should hereafter
bless them with better sentiments, may turn their minds towards
such discipline, as may soften and improve their manners, and
especially to music; by which means alone, they can ever hope to
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
be divested of that brutal fierceness, for which they have been so
long distinguished (a)."
Though Polybius in this passage seems to attribute the happy
change that was brought about in the manners of the Arcadians to
music alone, it does not appear to merit all the honour, as a
considerable part was doubtless due to the poetry that accom-
panied it; which being grave, majestic, and full of piety and
respect for the Gods and heroes, whose glorious actions and benefits
were celebrated in it, must have had great influence upon the minds
of young persons, in whose education those two arts had so
considerable a share.
Homer places a musician over Clytemnestra during the absence
of Agamemnon, as a guard over her chastity; and till he was sent
away, her seducer, ^Egisthus, had no power over her affections :
At first with worthy shame, and decent pride,
The royal dame his lawless suit deny'd.
For virtue's image yet possest her mind,
Taught by a master of the tuneful kind :
Atrides parting for the Trojan war,
Consigned the youthful consort to his care;
True to his charge, the bard preserv'd her long
In honour's limits, such the power of song.
POPE'S Homer's Iliad, Book iii.
It is not, however, to be supposed, that mere lessons of Music
could be lessons of prudence and virtue: it must have been the
Poetry in which the bard's instructions and precepts were con-
veyed, that kept the queen from infidelity, and not the sound of
his lyre; though Pausanias, in his Attics, calls him aoidos foye, a
Singer, and not a Poet.
But if these accounts from Polybius and Homer were to be
taken literally, they would prove the sensibility of the Greek^
more than the excellence of their music, in such remote antiquity;
for though all writers agree in saying that the Grecian lyre was at
first furnished with only three or four open strings, and for many
ages after, had, at most, but seven or eight, by which small
number of sounds the voice was wholly regulated and governed;
yet the miraculous effects of music are thrown into those dark and
fabulous times, when the art may be supposed to have been in
its infancy; and the hearers at least as ignorant as the performers
(6).
But now, since Gods and Goddesses are humanized, and ancient
heroes are reduced to the common standard of mankind, why, it
may be asked, are we to retain only the marvellous stories
(a) Book IV, Ch. 3.
(b) From the heavy complaints made by Plato and Aristotle of the degeneracy of music in their
time, from its too great refinement, we may suppose that its miraculous powers had then ceased.
152
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
concerning the music of those remote periods," when all the rest are
given up?
I shall now consider, under the second head, what has been
related by ancient authors, concerning the empire of music over the
passions.
Plutarch, in his Dialogue on Music, tells us, that Terpander
appeased a violent sedition among the Lacedaemonians by the
assistance of music.
The same author, in his Life of Solon, relates, that this cele-
brated legislator, by singing an elegy of his own writing, consisting
of a hundred verses, excited his countrymen, the Athenians, to a
renewal of the war against the Megarians, which had been put an
end to in a fit of despair, and which was forbidden to be mentioned
on pain of death; but by the power of his song, they were so
enflamed, that they never rested till they had taken Salamine,
which was the object of the war. This circumstance is not only
related by Plutarch, but by Diogenes Laertius, Pausanias, and
Polyaenus.
Pythagoras, according to Boethius (c), seeing a young stranger
enflamed with wine, in so violent rage, that he was on the point
of setting fire to the house of his mistress, for preferring his rival
to him; and, moreover, animated by the sound of a flute playing
to him in the Phrygian mode, had this young man restored to
reason and tranquillity, by ordering the Tibicina, or female
performer on the flute, to change her mode, and play in a grave
and soothing style, according to the measure usually given to the
Spondee (d). The same kind of story is recorded by Galen, of
Damon, the music-master of Socrates; and Empedocles is, in like
manner, said to have prevented murder by the sound of his lyre.
Plutarch relates of Antigenides, what others have given to
Timotheus, that in playing a spirited air to Alexander, it so
enflamed the courage of that prince, that he suddenly arose from
table, and seized his arms.
The painter, Theon, who knew the virtue of this martial music,
availed himself of its power; for, according to JElian (e), at an
exhibition of a picture, in which he had represented a soldier ready
to fall on the enemy, he first took the precaution of making a
Tibicen sound the charge; and as soon as he saw the^ spectators
sufficiently animated by this music, he uncovered his picture,
which gained universal admiration.
Thucydides, as quoted by Aulus Gellius (/), says, when the
Lacedaemonians went to battle, a Tibicen played soft and soothing
music to temper their courage, lest by an ardent temerity they
should have rushed on with too great impetuosity; for, in general,,
they had more need of having their courage repressed than excited.
(c) De Musica, lib. i. cap. x.
«*) This measure the French imagine to have been the same as that of the airs known in their old
serious operas by the name of sommeik, so proper to tranquillize, and excite drowsiness.
(«) Lib. ii. cap. 44. (/) ^ib. i. cap. n.
153
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
However, in an engagement with the Messenians, they were
very near being discomfited, when the celebrated Tyrtaeus, who
performed the part of a Tibicen that day, finding the troops give
way, immediately quitted the Lydian mode, and played in the
Phrygian, which so reanimated their courage, repressed by the
preceding mode, that they obtained a complete victory (g).
Such are the wonderful effects upon the passions, which the
ancient music is said to have produced. Now, without disputing
the truth of the facts, let us enquire whether, in those early ages,
it was necessary for the art to have been brought to great perfection,
in order to operate so powerfully.
To begin with the sedition at Sparta, that Terpander was able
to appease so opportunely; upon which I shall only observe, that
it does not appear as if the lyre had had the principal share in
the business; that instrument only serving as an accompaniment
to the voice of the musician, who was likewise an excellent poet,
and whose verses upon this occasion, it is most likely, were far
more persuasive than his music. It has already been observed how
much his melody and modulation must have been confined by the
small compass of the lyre; and yet, however desirous Terpander
might have been to extend its limits, he would hardly have been
so imprudent as to expose himself a second time to the penalty
which the ephori had before made him pay, for only adding a single
string to his lyre (h).
As to the adventure of Solon,* with respect to Salamine, the
favourable disposition in which he found the Athenian youth for
war, and the persuasive strains of his elegy, the poetry of which was
rendered interesting and pathetic, by every circumstance that could
be urged upon such an occasion, contributed no less to his being
favourably heard than the music. For melody at this time confined
to few notes, could not be susceptible of great variety : and we may
easily form an idea of the rhythm, as it must have been regulated
by dactyls, spondees, and anapsests, the only feet admissible in
elegiac verse.
With respect to the power attributed to the flute, it lessens the
marvellous very much, when we consider that, in the instances
just given, this power was only exercised upon persons agitated
by the fumes of wine; for, at present, it certainly^ would not be
difficult to render a company of drunken fellows furious, by a bad
hautbois, or tabor and pipe; but, when the first rage had spent
. (f) Patritius, lib. ii. cap. 2.
(k) The Spartans, though the first cultivators of music among the Greeks, were such enemies to
variations in that art, that Terpander was not the only reformer and innovator who felt their resent-
ment ; Phryuis and Timotheus underwent a still severer punishment. And Plutarch speaks of a
lyrist whom they heavily fined for playing with his fingers, instead of the plectrum, as their forefathers
had done.
* Born c. 639 B.C. In early life Solon was famous for poetry of a light and amatory character.
He discarded this mode of writing and before long was considered one of the seven sages. A dispute
arose between Athens and Megara with regard to tbf possession of Salamis. The Athenians were
about to relinquish their claims, which roused Solon to such indignation that, feigning madness, he
rushed into the market place and declaimed an elegaic poem of 100 lines, in which he called upon the
Athenians to reconquer Salamis. His appeal was effective ; Solon was elected to conduct a war
against the Megarians, the issue of which was later decided by the arbitration of Sparta.
154
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
itself, if the hautbois were to play a graver strain, and retard the
measure by degrees, we should soon see these pot-valiant heroes
fall fast asleep, without reflecting any great honour upon the
excellence of the music, or performance.
The flutes, therefore, that were used under the direction of Pytha-
goras and Damon, cannot easily be regarded in a more wonderful
Sght, any more than the lyre of Empedocles, which is said to have
had the power of preventing murder; for all that can be inferred
from what has been related of this poet and musician is, that he
restored a furious young man to reason and moderation by the
assistance of poetical counsel, conveyed to him in a song; for the
chief use made of the lyre at that time, as before observed, was to
accompany the voice.
With regard to the particular power of the flute of Timotheus,
or of Antigenides, over Alexander, where is the wonder that a young
and martial prince, extremely sensible to the charms of music,
should suddenly rise from table upon hearing some military charge
or march sounded, and, seizing his arms, dance a Pyrrhic dance ?
Must a musician's abilities be very extraordinary, or the music
miraculous, to operate such a natural effect?
A Thracian prince, mentioned by Xenophon ($"), was roused in
the same manner by the sound of flutes and trumpets, made of
raw hides, and is said to have danced with as much impetuosity
and swiftness, as if he had tried to avoid a dart. But must we
conclude from this circumstance, that in the city Cerasontes, where
it is said to have happened, music was arrived at a greater degree
of perfection than elsewhere?
The trumpeter, Herodorus, of Megara, had the power, accord-
ing to Athenseus of animating the troops of Demetrius so much,
by sounding two trumpets at a time, during the siege of Argos,
as to enable them to move a machine towards the ramparts, which
they had in vain attempted to do for several days before, on account
of its enormous weight. Now the whole miraculous part of this
exploit may safely be construed into a signal given by the musician
to the soldiers for working in concert at the battering ram, or other
military engines; for want of which signal, in former attempts, their
efforts had never been united, and consequently were ineffectual.
Nor can any thing be inferred very much in favour of either the
music or musician, mentioned by Saxo Grammaticus (&), who,
under the reign of Eric the second of Denmark, could work his
hearers up to a fury at his pleasure; for it was in a dark and
barbarous age, when music was extremely degenerated. However,
imperfect as it was, its power over the passions seems to have been
as great as in the days of Alexander. Giraldus assures us, that
he saw the same effects produced at the court of Leo X. Music
was then, indeed, a little emerged from barbarism, though very
remote from its present degree of perfection.
(*) Kvp. ava£as, lib. vii. (k) Lib. xii. p. 226.
155
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
All this only proves, that the best music of every age, be it
ever so coarse and imperfect, has great power over the human
affections, ancUs thought delightful, perfect, and inimitable: hence
those hyperbolical praises at all times, and in all countries, concern-
ing music, that becomes intolerable to persons of taste in future
ages: and, perhaps, the more barbarous the age and the music,
the more powerful its effects (I).
I shall now lay before my readers, under the Third head, the
Medicinal powers that have been attributed to music by the ancients.
Martianus Capella (in) assures us, that fevers were removed by
song, and that Asclepiades cured deafness by the sound of the
trumpet. Wonderful, indeed! that the same noise which would
occasion deafness in some, should be a specific for it in others ! it
is making the viper cure her own bite. But perhaps Asclepiades
was the inventor of the Acousticon, or ear-trumpet, which has been
thought a modern discovery; or of the speaking-trumpet, which is
a kind of cure for .distant deafness. These would be admirable proofs
of musical power (n) ! We have the testimony of Plutarch (o), and
several other ancient writers, that Thaletas the Cretan delivered
the Lacedaemonians from the pestilence by the sweetness of his lyre.
Xenocrates, as Martianus Capella further informs us, employed
the sound of instruments in the cure of maniacs ; and Apollonius
Dyscolus (/>), in his fabulous history, Historia Commentitia, tells
us, from Theophrastus's Treatise upon Enthusiasm, that music is a
sovereign remedy for a dejection of spirits, and a disordered
mind ; and that the sound of the Flute will cure an epilepsy, and
a sciatic gout. Athenseus quotes the same passage from Theo-
phrastus, with this additional circumstance, that as to the second
of these disorders, to render the cure more certain, the Flute
should play in the Phrygian mode (q). But Aulus Gellius, who
mentions this remedy (r), seems to administer it in a very different
manner, by prescribing to the Flute-player a soft and gentle
strain ; si modulis lenibus, says he, tibicen incinat : for the Phrygian
mode was remarkably vehement and furious. This is what Coelius
Aurelianus calls loca dolentia decantare, enchanting the disordered
places (s). He even tells us how this enchantment is brought about
upon these occasions, in saying that the pain is relieved by
causing a vibration in the fibres of the afflicted part: QUCB cum
(I) " For still the less they understand,
The more they admire the slight of hand."
In the first ages of Greece, when music was a new art, and the hearers, unaccustomed to excellence,
gave way to their feelings, without asking their judgment leave to be pleased, its operations were most
miraculous.
(m) Lib. ix. De Musica.
(n) It has been asserted by several moderns, that deaf people can hear best in a great noise ;
perhaps to prove, that Greek noise could do nothing which the modern cannot operate as effectually ;
and Dr. Willis, in particular, tells us of a lady who could hear only while a drum was beating, in so
much that her husband, the account says, hired a Drummer as her servant, in order to enjoy the
pleasure of her conversation.
(o) De Musica. (p) Cap. zlix. De Musica, p. 42.
(q) Deipnos. lib. xiv. cap. 15. (r) Lib. iv. cap. 13.
(s) Chron. lib. v. cap. i. sect. 23.
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
saltum sumerent palpitando, discusso dolore mitescerent. Galen
speaks seriously of playing the Flute on the suffering part, upon
the principle, I suppose, of a medicated vapour bath (f). The sound
of the flute was likewise a specific for the bite of a viper, according
to Theophrastus and Democritus, whose authority Aulus Gellius
gives for his belief of the fact. But I find nothing more extra-
ordinary among the virtues attributed to music by the ancients,
than what Aristotle relates of its supposed power in softening the
rigour of punishment. The Tyrrhenians, says he, never scourge
their slaves, but by the sound of flutes, looking upon it as an
instance of humanity to give some counterpoise to pain, and
thinking, by such a diversion to lessen the sum total of the
punishment (u). To this account may be added a passage from
Jul. Pollux (#), by which we learn, that in the triremes, or vessels
of three banks of oars, there was always a Tibicen, or flute-player,
not only to mark the time, or cadence, for each stroke of the oar,
but to sooth and cheer the rowers by the sweetness of the melody.
And from this custom Quintilian took occasion to say, that music
is the gift of nature, to enable us the more patiently to support
toil and labour (y).
These are the principal passages which antiquity furnishes,
relative to the medicinal effects of music ; in considering which, I
shall rely on the judgment of M. Burette, whose opinions will
come with the more weight, as he had not only long made the
music of the ancients his particular study, but was a physician by
profession. This writer, in a Dissertation on the subject, has
examined and discussed many of the stories above related, con-
cerning the effects of music in the cure of diseases. He allows it to
be possible, and even probable, that music, by reiterated strokes
and vibrations given to the nerves, fibres, and animal spirits, may
be of use in the cure of certain diseases; yet he by no means
supposes that the music of the ancients possessed this power in a
greater degree than the modern, but rather, that a very coarse and
vulgar music is as likely to operate effectually on such occasions as
the most refined and perfect. The savages of America pretend to
perform these cures by the noise and jargon of their imperfect
instruments ; and in Apulia, where the bite of the tarantula is
pretended to be cured by music,* which excites a desire to dance,
it is by an ordinary tune, very coarsely performed (z).
(t) Many of the ancients speak'of music as'a recipe for every kind of malady ; and it is probable
that the Latin word prtzcinere, to charm away pain, incantare, to enchant, and our word incantation,
came from the medicinal use of song.
(u) It seems, by the lightness of the music, from a very different reason, that the Prussian soldiers
are scourged to the sound of instruments, at present.
(*) Lib. iv. cap. 8. (y) Instit. Orat. lib. i. cap. x.
(*) M. Burette, with our Dr. Mead, Baglivi, and all the learned of their time, throughout Europe,
seem to have entertained no doubt of this fact, which, however, philosophical and curious enquirers
have since iound to be built upon fraud and fallacy. See Serrao, della Tarantola o vero Falangio di
Pulgia.
* The old legend connecting the tarantella with the Tarantula is without foundation. The word
tarantella -derives from the town of Taranto. The Tarantella was often used as an urge to rapid
movement in the disease or rather the nervous disorder known as Tarantism, which was prevalent in
Italy during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Credulity must be very strong in those who can believe it
possible for music to drive away the pestilence. Antiquity, however,
as mentioned above, relates, that Thaletas, a famous lyric poet,
cotemporary with Solon, was gifted with this power; but it is
impossible to render the fact credible, without qualifying it by
several circumstances omitted in the relation. In the first place it
is certain, that this poet was received among the Lacedaemonians
during the plague, by command of an oracle; that by virtue of this
mission, all the poetry of the hymns which he sung, must have
consisted of prayers and supplications, in order to avert the anger
of the Gods against the people, whom he exhorted to sacrifices,
expiations, purifications, and many other acts of devotion ; which
however superstitious, could not fail to agitate the minds of the
multitudes, and to produce nearly the same effects as public feasts,
and, in catholic countries, processions, at present, in times of
danger, by exalting the courage, and by animating hope.
The disease having, probably, reached its highest pitch of
malignity when the musician arrived, must afterwards have become
less contagious by degrees; till, at length, ceasing of itself, by the
air wafting away the seeds of infection, and recovering its former
purity, the extirpation of the disease was attributed by the people
to the music of Thaletes, who had been thought the sole mediator,
to whom they owed their happy deliverance.
This is probably what Plutarch means, who tells the story; and
what Homer meant, in attributing the cessation of the plague
among the Greeks, at the siege of Troy, to music.
With hymns divine the joyous banquet ends,
The Pceans lengthen' d till the sun descends:
The Greeks restor'd, the grateful notes prolong ;
Apollo listens, and approves the song.
POPE'S Homer's Hiad, Book 1.
For the poet, in this passage, seems only to say, that Apollo was
rendered favourable, and had delivered the Greeks from the
scourge with which they were attacked, in consequence of Chryseis
having been restored to her father, and of sacrifices and offerings.
M. Burette thinks it easy to conceive, that music may be really
efficacious in relieving, if not removing, the pains of the Sciatica;
and that, independent of the greater or less skill of the musician.
He supposes this may be effected in two different ways: first, by
flattering the ear, and diverting the attention ; and, secondly, by
occasioning oscillations and vibrations of the nerves, which may,
perhaps, give motion to the humours, and remove the obstructions,
which occasion this disorder. In this manner the action of musical
sounds upon the fibres of the brain, and in animal spirits, may some-
times soften and alleviate the sufferings of Epileptics and Lunatics,
and even calm the most violent fits of these two cruel disorders.
And if antiquity affords examples of this power, we can oppose
to them some of the same kijid, sajcl to have been effected by music,
158
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
not of the most exquisite sort. For, not only M. Burette, but many
modern philosophers, physicians, and anatomists, as well as ancient
poets and historians, have believed that music has the power of
affecting, not only the mind, but the nervous system, in such a
manner, as will give a temporary relief in certain diseases, and, at
length, even operate a radical cure.
In the Memoires of the Academy of Sciences for 1707, and 1708,
we meet with many accounts of diseases, which, after having
resisted and baffled all the most efficacious remedies in common
use, had, at length, given way to the soft impressions of harmony.
M. de Mairan, in the Memoires of the same Academy, 1737,
reasons upon the medicinal powers of music in the following
manner. "It is from the mechanical and involuntary connexion
between the organ of hearing, and the consonances excited in the
outward air, joined to the rapid communication of the vibrations
of this organ to the whole nervous system, that we owe the cure of
spasmodic disorders, and of fevers attended with a delirium and
convulsions, of which our Memoires furnish many examples."
The learned Dr. Bianchini, professor of physic at Udine, has
lately collected all the passages preserved in ancient authors,
relative to the medicinal application of music by Asclepiades; and
it appears from this work (a), that it was used as a remedy by the
ancient Egyptians, Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans, not only in
acute, but chronical disorders. And this writer gives several cases
within his own knowledge, in which music has been efficacious ;
but the consideration, as well as the honour, of these, more properly
belong to modern music, than to the ancient.
And now, after an examination of the power attributed to
ancient music over the human species, in softening the manners,
governing the passions, and healing diseases, this section might be
considerably swelled, by accounts of its influence over the brute
creation. But I shall wave the discussion of these, as some of
them belong to poetical fables, moral allegories, and mythological
mysteries ; and others are too puerile and trivial to merit attention,
unless among stories to be laughed at.
Indeed, with respect to this boasted influence of music upon
animals, though not only antiquity, but several eminent and
philosophical modern writers seem to have entertained no doubt of
it, yet the articles of my creed, upon this subject, are but very few.
Even Birds, so fond of their own music, are no more charmed
and inspired by ours, than by the most dissonant noise ; for I have
long observed that the sound of a voice, or instrument of the most
exquisite kind, has no other effect upon a bird in a cage, than to
make him almost burst himself in envious efforts to surpass it in
loudness ; and that the stroke of a hammer upon the wainscot, or a
fire shovel, excites the same rival spirit. A singing-bird is as
unwilling to listen to others, as a loquacious disputant.
(a) La Medidna d'Asclepiade per ton curare malatie acute. Vca,
I5P
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
As to quadrupeds, it is by no means certain, that music affects
them naturally with any thing but surprize and terror. A dog and
cat, not accustomed to hear music, wfll howl, when an instrument
is touched in the same room with them, as if the sound were top
much for their nerves to bear. Some have, indeed, construed this
effect into ecstatic pleasure ; but, open the door, and they will run
away from the music, as hastily as from a whip and a bell. By
education and discipline, several animals have indeed been taught
to attend to it : the sound of a trumpet will rouse a horse (&) ; and
a pack of hounds will obey orders issued through a French horn.
But if the truth of every strange story related by Mian, Pliny,
and other authors, concerning the great sensibility of all kinds of
animals for ancient music, could be ascertained, the power it had
over them would by no means prove its superior excellence.
Indeed, if it should be granted that any supernatural effects upon
man were ever produced in former times by mere practical music,
it would be so far from proving its superiority to the modern, that
it seems to demonstrate the direct contrary. For, at present, it is
not the most refined and uncommon melody, sung in the most
exquisite manner, or the most artificial and complicated harmony,
which has the greatest power over the passions of the multitude : on
the contrary, the most simple music, sung to the most intelligible
words, applied to a favourite and popular subject, in which the whole
audience can occasionally join, will be more likely to rouse and
transport them, than the most delicate or learned performance in an
opera or oratorio.
But in proportion as an age, or nation, grows refined, and
accustomed to musical excellence, it becomes more difficult to
please. The dose of any medicine must be doubled, if frequently
taken ; an opiate, or cathartic, that would cause eternal sleep, or
the most violent convulsions, if administered to a patient at first
in a large quantity, would become mild and anodyne by use, and
a gradual encrease of the quantity. The nearer the people of any
country are to a state of nature, the fonder they are of noisy music :
like children, who prefer a rattle and a drum to a soft and refined
melody, or the artful combinations of learned harmony.
It is not, therefore, difficult to conceive, that the music of the
ancients, with all its simplicity, by its strict union with poetry,
which rendered it more articulate and intelligible, could operate
more powerfully in theatric, and other public exhibitions, than the
artificial melody, and complicated harmony of modern times ; for
though poetry was assisted by ancient music, it is certainly injured
by the modern.
And here I can believe great effects to have arisen from little
causes, however, many hyperbolical accounts of its supernatural
powers that have been handed down from age to age, are not
only too improbable for belief, but too ridiculous to be treated
seriously.
(b) Fretnit eguus guum signa dedti tubicen. OVID.
160
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
Poetical fables, and ingenious allegories, come not under this
class. Amphion building the walls of Thebes with the sound of
his lyre, may be solved into the sweetness of his poetical numbers,
and the wisdom of his counsel prevailing upon a rude and
barbarous people to submit to law and order, to live in society, and
to defend themselves from the insults of savage neighbours, by
building a wall round their town.
It is not quite so easy to unfold the mysteries of singing Swans,
or intelligent Grasshoppers. However, the chevalier de Jaucourt
tells us, seriously, that " the Swan, whose sweet song is so
celebrated by the poets, does not produce the sounds by his voice,
which is very coarse and disagreeable, but by his wings, which,
being raised and extended when he sings, are played upon by the
winds, like the ^Eolian harp, and produce a sound so much the
more agreeable, as it is not monotonous, which is the case in the
warble of most other birds ; but on the contrary, this sound is
continually chaiiging, being composed of many different tones,
which form a kind of harmony, in proportion as the wind happens
to fall on different parts of the wings, and in different positions
(c)." But whoever heard this harmony? and why was it more
remarkable and mellifluous in the dying swans of antiquity, than
in those of youth and vigour?
The story of a Grasshopper supplying the place of a broken
string in the musical contest between Eunomes and Ariston, at
the Pythian games, is gravely related by Strabo, Diodorus Siculus,
Pliny, and Pausanias. The first of these authors gives a very
plausible reason for one particular breed of grasshoppers singing
better than another, though not for the sagacity of the individual
insect in question. He says, that though the two cities of Rhegium
and Locris were only separated by the river Alex, the grasshoppers
sung on the side of Locris, and were utterly mute on that of
Rhegium : for at Rhegium, the country being moist and woody, the
insect is languid and dull: whereas on the Locrian side, which
is diy and open, the grasshoppers are more lively, and fond
of singing.
The Dolphins seem, at all times, to have had a great attachment
to human kind (d), but particularly to poets and musicians. I
shall give the celebrated story of Arion from Herodotus, in the
words of his English translator.
" Periander, the son of Cypselus, was king of Corinth; and the
Corinthians say, that a most astonishing thing happened there in
his time, which is also confirmed by the Lesbians. Those people
give out, that Arion of Methymna, who was second to^ none of his
time in playing on the harp, and first inventor of dithyrambics,
both name and thing, which he taught at Corinth, was brought
of bread, and the sweet name of Simon, that he carried him every day
Vox,, i. ii
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
by a dolphin to Taenarus; and thus they tell the story : Arioh having
continued long with Periander, resolved to make a voyage to Italy
and Sicily, where, when he had acquired great riches, determining
to return to Corinth, he went to Tarentum, and hired a ship of
certain Corinthians, because he put more confidence in them than
in any other nation. But these men, when they were in their
passage, conspired together to throw him into the sea, that they
might get his money; which he no sooner understood, than offering
them all his treasure, he only begged they would spare his life.
But the seamen being inflexible, commanded him either to kill
himself, that he might be buried ashore, or to leap immediately into
the sea. Arion seeing himself reduced to this hard choice, most
earnestly desired that, as they had determined on his death, they
would permit him to dress in his richest apparel, and to sing, stand-
ing on the side of the ship, promising to kill himself when he had
done. The seamen, highly pleased that they should hear a song
from the best singer in the world, granted his request, and went
from the stern to the middle of the vessel. In the mean time, Arion
having put on all his robes, took up his harp, and began an Orthian
ode, which, when he had finished, he leapt into the sea as he was
dressed, and the Corinthians continued their voyage homeward.
They say a Dolphin received him on his back, from the ship, and
carried him to Taenarus, where he went ashore, and .thence pro-
ceeded to Corinth, without changing his cloaths; that, upon his
arrival there, he told what had happened to him; but that Periander,
giving no credit to his relation, put him under a close confinement,
and took especial care to find put the seamen: that when they were
found, and brought before him, he enquired of them concerning
Arion; and they answering, that they had left him with great riches
at Tarentum, and that he was undoubtedly safe in some port of
Italy, Arion in that instant appeared before them in the veiy dress
he had on when he leaped into the sea; at which they were so
astonished, that having nothing to say for themselves, they con-
fessed the fact. These things are reported by the Corinthians and
Lesbians; in confirmation of which, a statue of Arion, made of
brass, and of a moderate size, representing a man sitting upon a
dolphin, is seen at Taenarus (e)."
Plutarch, in his Banquet of the seven Wise Men, puts a ridicu-
lous account of the death of Hesiod into the mouth of Solon, who,
after telling us that the poet was killed at the Nemean temple at
Locris, seriously assures us, that his body being cast into the sea,:
was instantly caught up by a shoal of Dolphins, and carried to
Rhium, and Molycrium, where it was soon recognized, and buried
by the inhabitants in the temple of Nemean Jove.
All these stories, and many more, have frequently been quoted
in favour of ancient music; yet, to realize or demonstrate its excel-
lence now, seems out of the power even of those who have spent
the greatest part of their lives in the study of it. Meibomius, 'the
(«) Littlebury's Herod, vol. i p. 13.
DISSERTATION ON THE MUSIC OF THE ANCIENTS
great and learned Meibomius, when prevailed on at Stockholm to
sing Greek Strophes, set the whole court of Christina in a roar,
as Naude did in executing a Roman dance (/); but who would
venture to appear at court now, in a dress that was worn a thou-
sand years ago? Yet men delight in the marvellous; and many
bigoted admirers of antiquity, forgetting that most of the extra-
ordinary effects attributed to the music of the ancients had their
origin in poetical inventions, and mythological allegories, have given
way to credulity ; so far as to believe, or pretend to believe, these
fabulous accounts, in order to play them off against modem music;
which, according to them, must remain in a state far inferior to the
ancient, till it can operate all the effects that have been attributed
to the music of Orpheus, Amphion, and such wonder-working
bards.
(/) Vie de Christine, Reine du Suede..
A GENERAL HISTORY
OF MUSIC
HARMONY seems a part of nature, as much as light or heat ;
and to number any one of them among human inventions
would be equally absurd. Indeed nature seems to have
furnished human industry with the principles of all science : for what
is Geometry, but the study and imitation of those proportions, by
which the world is governed? Astronomy, but reflecting upon and
calculating the motion, distances, and magnitude, of those visible,
but wonderful objects, which nature has placed before our eyes?
Theology, but contemplating the works of the Creator, and adoring
him in his attributes? Medicine, but the study of nature, or the
discovery and use of what inferior beings instinctively find, in every
wood and field through which they range, when the animal ceconomy
is disturbed by accident or intemperance?
The ancients, by experiments on a single string, or monochord,
found out the relations and proportions of one sound 'to another ;
but the moderns have lately discovered that nature,* in every
sounding body, has arranged and settled all these proportions in
such a manner, that a single sound appears to be composed of the
most perfect harmonies, as a single ray of light is of the most
beautiful colours ; and when two concordant sounds axe produced in
just proportion, nature gives a third, which is their true and funda-
mental base (a).
This is only speaking of natural harmony, and the science of
harmonical proportion : but even the art or practice of music cannot
be said to have been invented by any one man, for that must have
had its infancy, childhood, and youth, before it arrived at
maturity (6).
I shall not, therefore, amuse my readers with puerile accounts
of the invention of music ; as I believe it may be asserted with
truth, that no one man was the inventor of any art, science, or
complicated piece of mechanism, without some pracognita, some
leading principles, or assistance from others.
(a) This will be explained hereafter.
(b) Omnium rerum prindpia paroa sunt, sed suis fvogressionibus usu augentur. Cic. de Fin. bon
et mal. Lib. v.
* The harmonies of the human voice were noted by Rameau early in the eighteenth century, but
in the seventeenth century Merseane notices them in connection with a string* .'•'.':
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Among the ancient Greeks, says Pausanias, rude and shapeless
stones held the place of statues, and received divine honours. A
stone was adored in Baeotia for Hercules ; at Thebes, for Bacchus :
and Herodian pretends, that the image, or symbol, of the Venus of
Paphos, was at first only a stone, in form of a landmark, or pyramid.
The first house was, doubtless a cavern, or a hollow tree ; and the
first picture, a shadow ; even temples at first were so small, that
the Gods could hardly stand upright in them :
Jupiter angusta vix totus stab at in ade (c).
OVID, Fast. lib. i.
and yet it has been thought necessary, in histories or architecture
and of painting, to tell us who were the inventors of those arts.
As in these, so in music, the first attempts must have been rude
and artless: the first flute, a whistling reed (d), and the first lyre,
perhaps, the dried sinews of a dead tortoise. However, particular
persons have been mentioned as the inventors of such clumsy
instruments as were made by nature, and found by chance ; and
yet, notwithstanding the little probability there is that music could
have been brought to perfection by those who first attempted it! we
are told by the ancient poets, historians, and even philosophers, that
the miraculous powers of this art were exercised \vith the greatest
success by its first cultivators.
Who these first cultivators were, and what region of the earth
they inhabited, it is not easy to determine. According to Herodotus
(e), it was long disputed by the Egyptians and Phrygians, which
of them could boast the higher antiquity ; and we are told by the
same writer, that it was put to a very weak and precarious issue,
which turned put favourable to the Phrygians (/). But as all the
most ancient historians speak of the stupendous and splendid remains
of grandeur and civilization to be found in Egypt, at a time when
Phrygia could produce no such vouchers ; and as Sanconiatho, the
most ancient historian of the Phoenicians, a people, who have a
just claim to a very high antiquity, confesses (g) his cosmogony to
have been taken from that of Taautus, who was the same with
the Egyptian Thoth, or Hermes ; I shall not enter upon a minute
discussion of the point, but proceed immediately to the history of
music in that country, where the most indisputable proofs and
testimonies remain of the extreme high antiquity of its religion,
government, arts, and civil policy.
(c) No sumptuous temples are upon record, till the days of Solomon : new kingdoms then began
to blind sepulchres to their founders, in a magnificent manner ; such were constructed by Hiram in
Tyre, Sesac in all Egypt, and Benhadad in Damascus. Newton's Chron.
(d) Et zephyr is cava per calamontmsibila_primum
Agresteis docuere cavas inflare cicutas. Lucret. lib. v.
(«) Euterpe.
(/) In order to make the experiment. Psammetichus, king of Egypt, ordered two children, just
born, to be shut up in a cottage with dumb nurses ; and these children, as they grew up, were always
heard, when hungry, to pronounce the word bekkos, which, upon enquiry, was found to be the Phrygian
name for bread.
(g) Apud Evseb. de Prop. Ev. L i. c. 10.
165
THE HISTORY
OF EGYPTIAN MUSIC
THAT Egypt was one of the first countries on the globe which
cultivated arts and sciences, is certain, from the testimony of
the most ancient and respectable historians. Indeed, we
have no authentic accounts of any nation upon the earth, where a
regular government was established, civilization advanced, the
different orders and ranks of the people settled, property ascertained,
and the whole regulated by long custom, and by laws founded upon
wisdom and experience, in such high antiquity as in Egypt.*
For all this, we have the testimony of the Jewish legislator and
historian, Moses, who allows the Egyptians to have been a powerful
and polished people, before the arrival of Jacob's single family
among them, consisting of only seventy persons, in order to obtain
corn, during the time of a great famine, which raged throughout
Syria (/). And even much earlier, Abraham was obliged to visit
that country upon a similar occasion (g), where he found the state
settled under a king, the second of whom mention is made in the
sacred writings, and who had ideas of justice and rectitude, and
treated him with hospitality and kindness.
That Architecture was known here in a grand and magnificent
style, much earlier than in other parts of the world, is certain, from
the wonderful remains of it still subsisting in the Pyramids, of which
the antiquity was so remote in the days of Herodotus, the oldest
historian of Greece, that he could neither discover the time of their
construction, nor procure an explanation of the Hieroglyphics they
contained, though he travelled through that country expressly in
search of historical information.
To the Egyptians has been assigned the invention of Geometiy,
an art necessary for measuring and ascertaining the portions of land
belonging to each individual, after the overflowing of the Nfle, by
which all boundaries were obliterated. Now as it is allowed by all
antiquity that Pythagoras travelled into Egypt, and was obliged to
the priests of that country for the chief part of his science, particularly
in music (h), it is natural to suppose that the doctrine of Harmonics,
(/) Gen. xlvi. 6, 27. (g) Gen. xii. to. , . (h) SeeDiog. Laert.
in the history of the development of science and arc.
166
HISTORY OF EGYPTIAN MUSIC
or the geometrical mensuration of sounds, and the laws of their
proportions to each other, were the invention of these early
geometricians, who had brought the science of calculation to great
perfection, lorig before the arrival of the Samian sage among them.
It is in vain, therefore, to endeavour to trace music from a higher
source than the history of Egypt ; a country, in which all human
intelligence seems ^to have sprung. Its ancient inhabitants boasted
a much higher antiquity than those of any other country ; or, indeed,
than .' has ever been granted them by any modern system of
chronology ; for from the time of Osiris to Alexander the Great, they
counted ten thousand years. However, there are no annals of their
history, or computations of time, which do not allow them an extreme
high antiquity : those who strictly adhere to the Hebrew chronology,
are obliged to it, for the reasons assigned above ; and the followers of
other systems can find no transactions concerning any other countries
prior to those recorded of the Egyptians ; for they were a great
people long before the use of letters was known, till which period,
they had no other memorials of times past than Hieroglyphics, which
being, at first, vague and fanciful, must soon have grown out of use
and unintelligible, when the more simple, certain, and expeditious
method of conveying their transactions and thoughts to distant
places and times, was agreed upon, by writing.
With respect to Music, I know it is asserted by Diodorus Siculus
.(*);'' that the cultivation of it was prohibited among them ; for they
looked upon it not only as useless, but noxious, being persuaded
' that it rendered the minds of men effeminate." To this passage has
been opposed one from Plato, by a writer who has well discussed
the point (k) ; and as Plato travelled into Egypt with a view of
getting acquainted with the arts and sciences that flourished there
(7), and was particularly attached to music ; it is natural to suppose
that his enquiries would be judicious, and his account of it accurate.
The following quotation from him will, therefore, have the more
weight. ' * •
Athen.' The plan which we have been laying down for the
education of youth, was known long ago to the Egyptians, viz.
that nothing but beautiful forms, and fine music, should be permitted
to enter into the assemblies of young people. Having settled what
those forms, and that music should be, they exhibited them in their
temples ; nor was it allowable for painters, or other imitative artists,
to innovate, or invent, any forms different from what were
established ; nor is it now lawful, either in painting, statuary,, or
any pf the branches of the music, to make any alteration. Upon
examining, therefore, you will find, that the pictures and statues
made ten thousand years ago, are, in no one particular, better or
worse than what they make now.
(*) Lib.L
(k) Mr. Stillingfleet, in Principles and Power of Harmony, p. 123.
(I) According to Strabo, he remained in that country thirteen years.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Clin. What you say is wonderful.
Athen. Yes, it is in the true spirit of legislation and policy.
Other things practised among that people may, perhaps, be
blameable ; but what they ordained about music is right ; and it
deserves consideration, that they were able to make laws about
things of this kind, firmly establishing such melody as was fitted
to rectify the perverseness of nature. This must have been the
work of the Deity, or of some divine man ; as, in fact, they say in
Egypt, that the music which has been so long preserved, was
composed by Isis, and the poetry likewise. Plato, p. 789.
This testimony of Plato contains a sufficient answer to Diodorus ;
but one still more full may be extracted from his own writings,
as, in this particular, he is in contradiction with himself ; for he
not only tells us that music, and musical instruments, were invented
by the Egyptian deities, Osiris, Isis, Orus, and Hermes ; but that
Orpheus had from Egypt the fable of his descent into hell, and the
power of music over the infernals ; and enumerates all the great
poets and musicians of Greece who had visited that country, in order
to improve themselves in the arts. Herodotus too, who travelled
into Egypt more than three hundred years before Diodorus, and a
hundred before Plato, is so far from mentioning any prohibition
against the practice of music there, that he gives several instances
of its use in their festivals, and religious ceremonies.
" The Egyptians/' says he (m), " were the first inventors of
festivals, ceremonies, and transactions with the Gods, by the
mediation of others. It is not thought sufficient in Egypt,"
continues this father of history, " to celebrate the festivals of the
Gods once every year, but they have many times appointed to that
end : particularly in the city of Bubastis, where they assemble to
worship Diana, with great devotion. The manner observed in these
festivals at Bubastis is this : men and women embark promiscuously,
in great numbers ; and, during the voyage, some of the women beat
upon a tabor, while part of the men, pl§y on the pipe ; the rest, of
both sexes, singing, and clapping their hands together at the same
time. At every city they find in their passage, they haul in the
vessel, and some of the women continue their music."
In the same book, he tells us, that in the processions of Osiris or
Bacchus, the Egyptian women carry the images, singing the praises
of the god, preceded by a flute. And afterwards, in speaking of
funeral ceremonies, he has the following remarkable passage.
" Among other memorable customs, the Egyptians sing the song of
Linus, like that which is sung by the Phoenicians, Cyprians, and
other nations, who vary the name according to the different
languages they speak. But the person they honour in this song,
is evidently the same that the Grecians celebrate: and as I confess
my surprize at many things I found among the Egyptians, so I
more particularly wonder whence they had this knowledge of Linus,
because they seem to have celebrated him from time immemorial.
(w) Euterp.
168
HISTORY OF EGYPTIAN MUSIC
The Egyptians call him by the name of Maneros, and say he was the
only son of the first of their kings, but dying an untimely death, in
the flower of his age, he is lamented by the Egyptians in this
mourning song, which is the only composition of the kind used in
Egypt."
Strabo (n) says, that the children of the Egyptians were taught
letters, the Songs appointed by law, and a certain species of Music
established by government, exclusive of all others.
Indeed the Greeks, who lost no merit by neglecting to claim it,
unanimously confess, that most of their ancient musical instruments
were of Egyptian invention ; as the triangular Lyre, the Monaulos,
or single Flute ; the Symbal, or Kettle-drum ; and the Sistrum, an
instrument of sacrifice, which was so multiplied by the priests in
religious ceremonies, and in such great favour with the Egyptians
in general, that Egypt was often called, in derision, the country of
Sistrums ; as Greece has been said to be governed by the Lyre.
Herodotus (o), in tracing the genealogy of the Dorians, one of
the most ancient people of Greece, makes them natives of Egypt :
and as the three musical modes of highest antiquity among the
Greeks, are the Dorian, Phrygian and Lydian, it is likely that the
Egyptian colony, which peopled the Dorian province, brought with
them the music and instruments of their native country.
The profession of music was hereditary among the Egyptians,
as was every other profession. This custom was imitated by
the Hebrews; and Herodotus (p) tells us, that the Lacedaemonians,
who were Dorians, agreed with their progenitors, the Egyptians,
in this, that their musicians were all of one family. Their priests
too, like those of Egypt, were at once taught medicine, to play
on stringed instruments, and initiated into religious mysteries.
The prohibition, therefore, mentioned by that excellent and
judicious writer, Diodorus Siculus, inconsistent as it may seem
with what he elsewhere says of the music and musicians of Egypt,
may be accounted for, by the study of music, in very ancient
times, having been confined there to the priesthood, who used it
only on religious and solemn occasions. And, as we are told by
Plato, that not only the music, but the sculpture of the Egyptians,
was circumscribed by law, and continued invariable for many ages,
which accounts for the little progress they made in both, it seems
as if, during the time that arts were thus rendered stationary, only
new music was prohibited; and that the old was sacred, and so
connected with religion, that it was, perhaps, forbidden to be used
on light and common occasions.
But the Egyptians are mentioned by all writers, as if their
government, customs, religion, laws, and arts, had remained the
same through all the revolutions of time, and vicissitude of things.
Yet it should be remembered that they became subjects of different
invaders at different periods, who must have greatly changed, not
(n) Bij5. i. (o) Erato. (p) Erato.
169
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
only the form of their government, but their manners and amuse-
ments: they were, by turns, after the reign of the Pharaohs,
conquered by the Ethiopians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans. In
the time of the Ptolemies, it seems as if no other than Greek
literature, arts, and sciences, were cultivated among them, and the
musical games and contests instituted by those monarchs, were all
of Greek origin, and chiefly supplied by Greek musicians.
However, a sufficient number of passages have been cited from
ancient authors, to evince the use of music, at all times, in Egypt;
and there still remain, both at Rome, and at Thebes, in Upper
Egypt, such proofs of its high antiquity, as appear to be wholly
incontestable.
There are no memorials of human art and industry, at present
subsisting in Rome, of equal antiquity with the obelisks that have
been brought thither from Egypt; two of them, in particular, are
supposed to have been erected at Heliopolis, by Sesostris, near four
hundred years before the Trojan war (q). These Augustus, after
reducing Egypt to a Roman province, caused to be brought to
Rome. One of them he placed in the great Circus, and the
other in the Campus Martius; this last, the largest of all those
that have been transported from Egypt to Rome, was thrown down
and broken, at the time of the sacking and burning of that city by
the constable duke of Bourbon, general to the emperor Charles V.
1527, and still lies in the Campus Martius. This column is known
at Rome by the name of the Guglia rotta, or broken pillar.
Upon this, among other hieroglyphics, is represented a musical
instrument of two strings, with a neck to it (r), much resembling
the Calascione, which is still in common use throughout the
kingdom of Naples. The drawing of this instrument, which was
made under my own eye, is of the exact size of the figure or
hieroglyphic on the Obelisk, which is the most ancient piece of
sculpture at Rome (s).*
This instrument seems to merit a particular description here,
not only from its great antiquity, but from its form; for by having
been furnished with a neck, though it had but two strings, it was
capable of producing from them a great number of notes; for
(?) Not. ad Tacit. An, lib. iL cap. 60, p. 251. Edit. Gronav. Vales. Not. Ammian. lib. xvii.
cap. 14, and the bishop of Gloucester on the Hieroglyphics.
(r) See Plate I.
(s) Figures of musical instruments have been found upon the Isiac table, particularly the Harp
and Sistrwn ; but this obelisk is a monument of far more certain antiquity than the table of Isis,
which has been supposed by the learned Jablonski, to be a calendar of Egyptian festivals, fabricated at
Rome for the use of the Egyptians established there, during the time of the emperor Caracalla, in
imitation of the figures and workmanship of Egypt. The Comte de Caylus, however, thinks that it
certainly was engraved in Egypt, and brought into Italy about the end of the Republic, when the
worship of Isis was first introduced there. Recuett d' Antiquities, 1767, torn. vii. p. 37.
* The drawing of this instrument has been reduced to the scale of one-third of original.
In his remarks upon the instrument, Plate V., No. 9, Burney calk it a Dichord. Actually
it is a tamboura, or as the Egyptian called it, a nofre* In early representations it is usually
.depicted with four pegs, but later two only are shown. It is difficult to be certain as to the number of
strings employed on the noire. Engel in the Music of the Most Ancient Nations (1909, p. 204, et seq.)
is inclined to the theory " that the number of strings varied " and that " three is believed to have been
the usual number." In some representations of the nofre frets are clearly indicated.
170
HISTORY OF EGYPTIAN MUSIC
instance, 'if these two strings were tuned fourths to each other,
they would furnish that series of sounds which the ancients called
a heptachord, consisting of two conjunct tetrachords, as B, c, d, e;
E, f, g, a; and if the strings of this instrument, like those on the
Calascione, were tuned fifths they would produce an octave, or
two disjunct tetrachords; an advantage which none of the Grecian
instruments seem to have possessed for many ages after this
column was erected. Indeed I have never yet been able to discover
in any remains of Greek sculpture, an instrument furnished with
a neck; and father Montfaucon says, that in examining the
representations of near five hundred ancient lyres, harps, and
citharas, he never met with one in which there was any contrivance
for shortening strings, during the time of performance, as by a
neck and finger board.
This instrument, therefore, is not only a proof that music was
cultivated by the Egyptians in the most remote antiquity, but
that they had discovered the means of extending their scale, and
multiplying the sounds of a few strings, by the most simple and
commodious expedients.
Proclus tells us (t), " That the Egyptians recorded all singular
events, and new inventions, upon columns, or stone pillars." Now
if this be true, as the guglia, or great obelisk, is said to have been
first erected at Heliopolis, in the time of Sesostris, it will in some
measure fix the period when this dichord, or two-stringed
instrument, was invented.
An exact chronology, however, in transactions of such remote,
ages, can hardly be expected. Sir Isaac Newton,* whom I shall
frequently follow, has more opponents to his Egyptian Chronology,
than to any of his other writings. The bishop of Gloucester has
attacked him with all his powers of learning and argument: it
is not my business to enlist, on either side, in so learned and
hopeless a dispute, in which both parties have the authority of
ancient writers to confirm their opinions (u).
Sir Isaac Newton supposes the elder Bacchus, Osiris, Sesac,
and Sesostris, to be one and the same person (x) : the bishop of
.Gloucester, on the contrary, denies their identity, especially that of
Osiris and Sesostris, whom he makes totally different persons, and
to have flourished at very different periods. To Osiris he gives
the character of legislator, inventor of arts, andxivilizer of a rude
and barbarous people; and to Sesostris that of a conqueror who
carried those arts and that civilization into remote countries (y)'
and Osiris whom sir Isaac Newton places but 956 years before
Christ, the bishop makes cotemporary with Moses, and seven
' (*) In Timaum, lib. i
(u) When respectable authors differ very widely in fixing the periods of time in which any of the
personages I have occasion to mention, lived, I shall give the several dates of these writers for my
readers to please themselves, by causing among them that which they may think the most probable.
(x) Chronol. of Ancient, Kingdoms, p. 193.
Vy) Div. Leg. b. iv. sect v. :
* The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms, published posthumously in 1728.
17*
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
hundred years higher than Sesac or Sesostris, the cotemporaries of
Solomon and Jeroboam.
The Egyptian mythology, as well as the Grecian, is so much
connected with the first attempts at music, and so many of the
Pagan divinities have been said to be its first cultivators, that some
slight mention of them is unavoidable.
The sun, moon, and stars seem to have struck all mankind with
wonder, awe, and reverence; and to have impressed them with
the first idea of religious veneration. To the adoration of these
succeeded hero-worship, in the deification of dead kings and
legislators. This was the course of idolatry every where, as well
as in Egypt: indeed the inhabitants of this country seem, from
their early civilization, conquests, and power, to have spread their
religious principles over the whole habitable earth; as it is easy to
trace all the Pagan mythology of other countries, in the first ages
of the world of which we have any account, from Egypt; and
Isis and Osiris may be proved to have been the prototypes of almost
every other God and Goddess of antiquity. For the Moon, or Luna,
under the name of Isis, means all the most ancient female divinities
of Paganism; as the Sun, under that of Osiris, does the male.
Diodorus Siculus confesses, that there was ever a great confusion
of sentiments concerning Isis and Osiris.* The former is called
Ceres, Thesmophora, or Juno, Hecate, Proserpine, and Luna;
Osiris has been likewise called Serapis, Dionysius, Helios, Pluto,
Ammon, Jupiter, and Pan.
However, the history of these does not so immediately concern
the present enquiries, as that of Mercury or Hermes, one of the
secondary Gods of Egypt, who received divine honours on account
of his useful and extraordinary talents (z). This God must therefore
be taken out of his niche, and examined.
There is no personage in all antiquity more renowned than the
Egyptian Mercury, who was surnamed Trismegistus, or thrice
illustrious. He was the soul of Osiris's counsel and government
and is called by sir Isaac Newton, his secretary; " Osiris/' says
he, "using the advice of his secretary Thoth, distributes Egypt
into thirty-six nomes (a); and in every nome erects a temple, and
appoints the several Gods, festivals, and religions of the several
nomes. The temples were the sepulchres of his great men, where
they were to be buried and worshipped after death, each in his
own temple, with ceremonies and festivals appointed by him;
while he and his queen, by the names of Osiris and Isis, were to
be worshipped in all Egypt; these were the temples seen and
(*) By secondary divinities is here meant such princes, heroes, and legislators, as were deified after
death, for the benefits they had conferred on mankind when living, in distinction to the heavenly
luminaries, or sun, moon, and stars, which were the first divinities of paganism.
(a) Districts, or provinces.
* One of the chief aspects of Osiris was as a Corn God, and of Tsis, Frazer in The Golden Bough
(abridged ed., 1922, p. 382, et seq.) writes : " The original meaning of the Goddess Isis is still more
difficult to determine than that of her brother and husband, Osiris. Her attributes were so numerous
that in the hieroglyphics she is called " the many named,'* " tb.e thousand named,'* and in the Greek
inscriptions " the myriad named.**
172
HISTORY OF EGYPTIAN MUSIC
described by Lucian, who was himself an Egyptian, eleven hundred
years after, to be of one and the same age: and this was the
original of the several nomes of Egypt, and of the several Gods and
several religions of those nomes (6)." -And Diodorus Siculus tells
us, that Mercury was honoured by Osiris, and afterwards wor-
shipped by the Egyptians, as a person endowed with extraordinary
talents for every thing that was conducive to the good of society.
He was the first who, out of the coarse and rude dialects of
his time, formed a regular language, and gave appellatives to the
most useful things: he likewise invented the first characters
or letters, and even regulated the harmony of words and phrases :
he instituted several rites and ceremonies relative to the worship
of the Gods, and communicated to mankind the first principles of
astronomy. He afterwards suggested to them, as amusements,
wrestling, and dancing, and invented the lyre, to which he gave
three strings, an allusion to the seasons of the year: for these
three strings producing three different sounds, the grave, the mean,
and the acute; the grave answered to winter, the mean to spring,
and the acute to summer (c).
Among the various opinions of the several ancient writers who
have mentioned this circumstance, and confined the invention to
the Egyptian Mercury, that of Apollodorus is the most intelligible
and probable. " The Nile/' says this writer (d}, " after having
overflowed the whole country of Egypt, when it returned within
its natural bounds, left on the shore a great number of dead animals
of various kinds, and, among the rest, a tortoise, the flesh of which
being dried and wasted by the sun, nothing was left within the
shell, but nerves and cartilages, and these being braced and con-
tracted by desiccation, were rendered sonorous; Mercury, in
walking along the banks of the Nile, happening to strike his foot
against the shell of this tortoise, was so pleased with the sound it
produced, that it suggested to him the first idea of a lyre, which
he afterwards constructed in the form oi' a tortoise, and strung it
with the dried sinews of dead animals."
It is generally imagined that there were two Thoths, or
Mercuries, in Egypt, who lived at very remote periods, but both
(6) Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms, p. 22.
(A Not only the Egyptians, but the ancient Greeks, divided their year into no more than three
seasons, spring, summer, and winter, which were called cbpot, or hours; Hesiod speaks of no more :
. The Hours to Jove, did lovely Themis bear,
Eunomia, Dice, and Irene fair :
O'er human labours, they the pow'r possess,
With seasons kind, the fruits of earth to bless.
Theogony.
However, Oirwpa, Autumnus, occurs in Homer, Od. X. 191, in a Fragment of Orpheus, and in
Xenophon- and RL de Boze has described, in the Mem. de Litteratun, an ancient marble monument
found among the ruins near Athens, upon which the four seasons of the year are represented in sculp-
ture. Indeed, according to Tacitus, « the ancient Germans knew all the seasons of the year, except
SSwwn of^uch theyhad no-idea." Hiems, et ver, el. astas inteUedum ac vocabula habent: autumnt
perinde nomen ac bona ignorantur. De Morib. German, cap. xxvi.
(d) BibUoth, lib. ii.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
persons of great abilities (e). From the small number of strings
in this lyre, it is reasonable to suppose that the invention of- it
was due to the first Egyptian Mercury : for that attributed to the
Grecian had more strings, as will be shewn hereafter. Most of
the writers on music among the ancients have supposed, that the
three sounds of this primitive lyre were E, F, G; though Boethius,
who makes the number of strings four, says they were tuned thus :
E, A, B, e; but this tuning, if not invented by Pythagoras, was
at least first brought into Greece by that philosopher.
No less than forty-two different works are attributed to the
Egyptian Hermes by ancient writers (/); of these the learned and
exact Fabricius has collected all the titles (g). It was usual for
the Egyptians, who had the highest veneration for this personage,
after his apotheosis, to have his works, which they regarded as
their Bible, carried about in processions with great pomp and
ceremony: and the first that appeared in these solemnities was
the Chanter, who had two of them in his hands, while others bore
symbols of the musical art. It was the business of the Chanters
to be particularly versed in the first two books of Mercury, one
ot which contained the hymns to the Gods, and the other maxims
of government: thirty-six of these books comprehended a complete
system of Egyptian philosophy: the rest were chiefly upon the
subjects of medicine and anatomy (h).
These books upon theology and medicine are ascribed .by
Marsham (i) to the second Mercury, the son of Vulcan, who,
according to Eusebius (&), lived a little after Moses; and this authdr,
upon the authority of Manetho, cited by Syncellus, regarded the
second Mercury as the Hermes, surnamed Trismegistus. Enough
has been said, however, to prove, that the Egyptian Mercuries,
both as to the time when they flourished, and their attributes, were
widely different from the Grecian Hermes, the son of Jupiter and
Maia.
Though so ancient and honourable an origin has been assigned
to the Dichord and Trichord, which can both be fairly traced from
Egypt, yet the single flute, or Monaulos, is said by several writers
not only to be a native of that country, and of much higher
antiquity than the lyre, but, according to Anthenaeus, from Juba's
(e) The Egyptians themselves distinguish two Thoths, or Herpeses ; and yet the histories oi
the .first and second are as much confounded together, as those of Osiris and Sesostris. Div. Leg. book
iv. sect, 5.
The Greek Christians had so high an opinion of the antiquity of the first Egyptian Hermes, who
lived at Sais, that they supposed him, and the antediluvian patriarch, Enoch, to have been the same
person, and give to both the same inventions. We are told likewise, that Manetho extracted his
history and dynasties of the Egyptians from certain pillars in Egypt, on which inscriptions had been
made "by Thoth, or the first Mercury, in the sacred letters, before the flood! Vid. Dodwell Dissert, de
Sanchon. Fabric. Bib. Or. Stittingfleet. Orig. Soar, el olios.
(fl Clem. Alex. Strom. lib. vi. fe) Bib. GrAc. torn. i.
(h) Several of these works, however, if we may fudge by their titles, seem to have been upon the
subject of music and poetry, as. i. 'Yjwot ©ewv. TO. Hept V/JU/CDV. 39. Hept bpyavvv, &c. and'
among his inventions are enumerated, Musica, or the nature and properties of sound, <^wvtov ; and the
use of the lyre. .......
(i) Chro. Sac. i. (A) In Cfuron*
HISTORY OF EGYPTIAN MUSIC
Theatrical History, to have been invented by Osiris himself ' (Z).
The Egyptians called it Photinx* or crooked flute; its shape was
that of a bull's horn, as may be seen in many gems, medals, and
remains of ancient sculpture. Not only the form of this instrument,
but the manner of holding it, is described by Apuleius, in
speaking of the mysteries of Isis: "Afterwards," says this author,
'.* came the flute players, consecrated to the great Serapis, often
repeating upon the crooked flute turned towards the right ear, the
airs commonly used in the temple (m)" All the representations
which I have seen of this instrument, have so much the appearance
of real horns, that they encourage a belief of its great antiquity;
and that the first instruments in use of this kind, were not only
suggested by the horns of dead animals, but that the horns
themselves were long used as musical instruments, at least those
sounded by the Hebrew priests at the siege of Jericho, we are
repeatedly told, were trumpets made of ram's horns (n).
Before the invention of the flute, music could have been little
more than metrical, as no other instruments, except those of
percussion, were known; and when the art was first discovered of
refining and sustaining tones, the power of music over mankind
was probably irresistible, from the agreeable surprize, which soft
and lengthened sounds must have occasioned. But proofs can be
given of the Egyptians having had musical instruments in use
among them, capable of much greater variety and perfection than
those hitherto mentioned, at a time when all the rest of the known
world was in a state of the utmost barbarism.
" Thebes or Diospolis, that is the city of Jupiter, in Upper
Egypt, was built, according to Sir Isaac Newton, by Osiris., ana
dedicated to his father Ammon, which was the original Egyptian
name for Jupiter, who was the first mortal that can be found in
profane authors, to whom temples were erected, and divine honours
paid (o). Of this city, perhaps the most ancient in the world,
amazing remains are still subsisting. It was chiefly built on the
right side of the Nile in Upper Egypt. Its hundred gates
celebrated by Homer (p) are well known. The Greeks and Romans
(Z) Tov MowvXov 0<rtptSos etvat evpifluux, Ka.ea.irep KM TOV /coXovjutevov ^wnyya irXayiavXov,
Deipnotopk, lib. iv. However, Plutarch says, that Apollo was not only the inventor of the Ctthara
but likewise of the flute : ov U.QWI $e /ciflapa AiroXXcovo?, aXXa KOI avXrjTiwj?, icat *ct«»p«rt«ijs
evperw o 0eos. Indeed it was a very common practice with antiquity, to attribute to the Gods aU the
discoveries and inventions to which there were no lawful claimants among mortals. And though we
mav now venture to doubt of all the marvellous facts, which have been so seriously related by the
most respectable historians of Greece and Rome, yet we must allow that the giving the invention of
music and musical instruments to the Gods, proves them to have been of the most remote
antiquity, and held in the highest estimation by such as bestowed upon them so honourable an origin.
(m) Ibant et dicati magno Serapidi tibicines, qui per ohliwum calamum ad aurem pertractum
dextram, familiar** templi deiquc modulum frequentabant. Metamorpb. hb. xi.
(n) Joshua, chap. vi. (o) Chronology, p. 18.
(*) Book be.
Not all proud Thebes unrival'd walls contain
The 'world's great empress on the Egvptian plain, •
That spreads her conquests o'er a thousand states,
And pours her heroes thro' a hundred gates. Pope.
Hence this city obtained the epithet of Htcatompylos.
* The Photinx was not a crooked flute, but the name given by the Greeks of Alexandria to the
transverse flute. It is not to be confused with the Plagiaries, which was held transversely,
but was played by means of a reed mouthpiece,
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
have perpetuated its magnificence, though neither ever saw more
than its ruins (q).
Herodotus says, that Egypt in general surpassed all other
countries in things admirable, and beyond expression remarkable
(r); and Dr. Pococke, and captain Norden, who visited that country
but lately (5), agree in giving such a splendid account of Egyptian
antiquities, as confirms all that ancient writers have related of its
former magnificence.
It is agreed by all writers that the pyramids are works of the
most remote antiquity, though the time and object of their
construction still remain a mystery (t).
The city of Thebes in the time of Strabo was ten miles long
(u), and the magnificent tomb of Ismandes, or Osymanduas, so
particularly described by Diodorus Siculus (x), Dr. Pococke thinks,
from its stupendous ruins still remaining, which extend more than
half a mile, must greatly have exceeded all that the Greek writers
have said of it (y). But the circumstance of the greatest importance
to the present purpose is, that the same author in his account of
the remains of this sepulchre, tells us that the walls of its rooms axe
still adorned with sculpture, and with instruments of music.
M. Pau, a writer by no means partial to the Egyptians, is of opinion
that the paintings in the grottos near Thebes are of undoubted
antiquity (z). Now as the prince whose tomb this is imagined to
be, reigned, according to Diodorus Siculus, and other authors, who
mention him, many ages before Sesostris, we cannot allow less than
3,000 years to the antiquity of these representations of such musical
instruments as were then known and practised in Egypt (a). The
mention of these in the books above cited, had awakened an ardent
desire in me to know of what kind they could be ; but as neither
Dr. Pococke had described them, nor captain Norden given them a
place in his drawings from Egyptian Antiquities ; and as the death
of both these travellers had put it out of my power to consult them,
{q) The name of this city is not to be found in Scripture, and it is not known what it was called
by the Hebzews.
(f ) Euterpe.
(s) Both these travellers were in Egypt at the same time ; that is, during the years 1737 and 1738,
though neither of them was acquainted with the other's person or design ; however, there is no material
difference in their accounts of the extraordinary things they saw in that country.
(t) M. Diderot has ingeniously imagined that long before the invention of letters, they were the
Bibles of Egypt and constructed as the receptacles and repositories of all human science, expressed
in hieroglyphics ; which though time has effaced, yet the pyramids themselves have resisted the
destructive power of the elements, to which they have been for so many years exposed. Encydop.
Art. EGYPTIENS.
{«) L&."xviL p. 816.
(x) Lib. i. sect. 2.
(y) description of the East.
(z) Indubitablement Antiques. Voyez Recherchez Phihs. sur les Egypt, et Us Chinojs. Tom. I
p. 198, and 212.
(a) According to Dr. Blair, the kingdom of Egypt, of the Diospolitan succession, had subsisted
1663 years, when it was conquered by Cambyses, king of Persia, 525 years before the Christian sera.
And as the same excellent chronologer fixes the reign of Sesostris 1485 years B.C. ; and Diodorus
Siculus tells us that Osmanduas lived twenty-seven generations earlier than that conqueror, it throws
the invention and use of musical instruments in Egypt, full 2000 years B.C. and near 4000 from the
present period.
HISTORY OF EGYPTIAN MUSIC
I had no resource till the arrival of Mr. Bruce;* the celebrity of whose
extensive knowledge of eastern countries, as well as of his excellent
drawings, and philosophical reflections, made me hope for a full
gratification of my wishes. And I was not disappointed ; for, upon
application to this intrepid and intelligent traveller, who had
explored so many regions of the earth unknown to the inhabitants
of Europe, he not only furnished me with exquisite drawings of
two instruments of the most curious kind, and of the greatest
importance to my work, but honoured me with a letter relative to
them, as well as to the state of music in Abyssinia, with a permission
to publish it ; a circumstance the more flattering to myself, and
which must afford my readers greater satisfaction, as Mr. Bruce,
among his innumerable acquirements of other kinds, has, by study,
practice, and experience, rendered himself an excellent judge of the
subject of music.
I shall therefore hasten to gratify the curiosity of my readers by
laying before them the information with which I have been favoured
relative to my particular subject, which will doubtless be the more
acceptable to them, as it contains the first and only intelligence of
any kind from Mr. Bruce, to which he has hitherto set his name, or
that he allows to be authentic.
Kinnaird, Oct. 20, 1774.
DEAR SIR,
I have employed the first leisure that bad weather has enabled
me to steal from the curiosity and kindness of my friends, to make
you two distinct drawings of the musical instruments you desired
of me. I sit down now to give you some particulars relative to them
and to other instruments of less consequence, which I found in my
voyage in Abyssinia to the fountains of the Nile.
I need not tell you that I shall think myself overpaid, if this,
or any thing else in my power, can be of service to you, or towards
the history of a science, which I have always cultivated, with more
application than genius ; and to which I may say, however, that I
owe some of the happiest moments of my life.
I have kept both the lyre and harp of such a size as not to exceed
the bounds of a quarto page ; but I hope you will find that all the
parts appear distinctly. I did not choose to embarrass the harp
with the figure which is playing upon it, because this would
necessarily conceal great part of the instrument ; and your business
is with the instrument, not with the figure.
There are six musical instruments known in Abyssinia ; the
Flute, the Trumpet, the Kettle-drum, the Tambourine, the Sistrum,
and the Lyre.
The four first are used in war, and are by much the most
common ; the fifth is dedicated to the service of the church ; and the
sixth is peculiarly an attendant on festivity and rejoicings.
* The celebrated African traveller and discoverer of the source of the Nile (b. 1730, d. 1794)*
There are many references to him in the EaarlyDiary of Fanny Burney.
Hfeaccount of the antiquity of this instrument was received with such incredulity that he
received the name of " Theban Lyre."
VOI,. i. 12 *77
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
There are two principal languages in Abyssinia, the JEthiopic,
which is the literal, or dead language ; and the Amharic, or language
of Amhara, spoken by the court.
The flute, in the Jithiopic, is called Kwetz, a word difficult to
be written or sounded in English: in the Amharic, it is called
Ag^da ; it is about the shape and size of the German flute, but
played upon long-ways, with a mouth-piece resembling that of the
clarinet ; its tone is not loud, but accompanied with a kind of jar,
like a broken hautbois ; not owing to any accidental defect, but to
construction and design, as it would not be esteemed without it (6).
The kettle-drum is called in both languages Nagareet, because
all proclamations axe made by the sound of this dnim, (these are
called Nag£r) if made by governors, they have the force of laws
in their provinces ; but if made by the king, they are for all
Abyssinia. The kettle-drum is a mark of sovereign power : when-
ever the king promotes a subject to be governor, or his lieutenant-
general in a province, he gives him a kettle-drum, and standard as
his investiture. The king has forty-five of these drums always
beating before him when he marches. They are in shape and size
like ours, only they are braced very disadvantageously ; for the
skin is strained over the outer rim, or lip of the drum, and brought
a third down its outside, which deadens it exceedingly, and deprives
it of that dear, metallic sound which ours has. Each man has but
a single drum, upon the left side of his mule, and beats it with a
crooked stick, about three feet long. Upon the whole, its sound is
not disagreeable, and I have heard it at an incredible distance.
The third instrument is the small drum, called Kabaro, in
^thiopic and Amharic ; though in some parts of Amhara it is also
called H£t£mo. It is about half the diameter, and twice the length
of our common drum ; it is just the tambourine of Provence, only
rounded to a point at the lower end. This is beaten always with
the hand, and carried sometimes on foot, sometimes on horseback,
when any inferior officer, (not having a Nagareet) marches.
The Trumpet is called M&eketa, or MSleket ; and Kenct in
Amharic, but Keren in ^Ethiopic, (or horn) ; which shews of what
materials it was anciently formed. It is now made of a cane that
has less than half an inch aperture, and about five feet four inches
in length. To this long stalk is fixed at the end, a round piece of the
neck of a gourd, which has just the form of the round end of our
trumpet, and is on the outside ornamented with small white shells ;
it is all covered over with parchment, and is a very neat instrument.
This trumpet sounds only one note, E, in a loud, hoarse, and terrible
tone (c). It is played slow when on a march, or before an enemy
appears in sight ; but afterwards it is repeated very quick, and with
great violence, and has the effect upon the Abyssinian soldiers of
(&) It is probable that the jar mentioned here, arises from the vibration of a reed, which consti-
tutes the difference between the tone of a hautbois and a flute.
blowl'
173
(c) The New Zealand trumpet, though extremely sonorous, is likewise monotonous, when it is
blown by the natives, though iti s capable of as great a variety of tones as an European trumpet.
HISTORY OF EGYPTIAN MUSIC
transporting them absolutely to fury and madness, and of making
them so regardless of life, as to throw themselves in the middle of
the enemy, which they do with great gallantry. I have, often in time
of peace tried what effect this "charge would have upon them, and
found that none who heard it could continue seated, but that all rose
up and continued the whole time in motion.
The fifth instrument is the Sistrum: it is used in the quick measure,
or in Allegros, in singing psalms of thanksgiving. Each priest has
a Sistrum, which he shakes in a very threatening manner at his
neighbour, dancing, leaping, and turning round, with such an
indecent violence, that he resembles rather a priest of paganism,
whence this instrument was derived, than a Christian. I have
forgot the name of the sistrum in ^Ethiopic, but on looking into my
notes I shall find it.
The sixth and last instrument is the Lyre, which is never played
solo, but always in accompanying the voice, with which it plays
constantly in unison ; nor did I ever hear music in parts, in any
nation, savage or polished, out of Europe: this is the last refinement
music received, after it was in possession of complete instruments,
and it received it probably in Italy.
The lyre has sometimes five, sometimes six, but most frequently'
seven strings, made of the thongs of raw sheep or goat skins, cut
extremely fine, and twisted ; they rot soon, are very subject to break
in dry weather, and have scarce any sound in wet. From the idea,
however, of this instrument being used to accompany and sustain a
voice, one would think it was better mounted formerly.
The Abyssinians have a tradition, that the Sistrum, Lyre, and
Tambourine were brought from Egypt into Ethiopia, by Thot, in
the very first ages of the world. The Flute, Kettle-drum, and
Trumpet, they say, were brought from Palestine, with Menelek, the
son of the queen of Saba, by Solomon, who was their first Jewish
king.
The lyre in Amharic is called beg, (the sheep) ; in Ethiopic,
it is called mSslnko ; the verb sinko signifies to strike strings with
the fingers : no plectrum is ever used in Abyssinia, so that mesinko
being literally interpreted, will signify the stringed instrument played
upon with the fingers. This would seem as if anciently there was
no other stringed instrument in Abyssinia, nor is there any other still.
Indeed the Guitar is sometimes seen in the hands of the
Mahometans, but they have brought it with them from Arabia, where
they go every year for trade or devotion. This instrument having
a neck, is from that circumstance, surely modern. Necks were
probably invented after strings of different lengths and sizes had
been so multiplied upon the harp and lyre, that more could not be
added without confusion. This improvement of producing several
notes upon one string, by shortening it with the mpmentaneous
pressure of the fingers was then introduced, and left little more to
do, besides the invention of the bow, towards bringing stringed
instruments to their utmost perfection,
179
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The sides which constitute the frame of the lyre were anciently
composed of the horns of an animal of the goat kind, called Ag£zan,
about the size of a small cow, and common in the province of Tigre,
I have seen several of these instruments very elegantly made of such
horns, which nature seems to have shaped on purpose. Some of
the horns of an African species of this animal may be seen in
M. Buffon's History of the King of France's Cabinet. They are
bent, and less regular than the Abyssinian ; but after fire-arms
became common in the province of Tigre, and the woods were cut
down, this animal being more scarce, the lyre has been made of a
light red wood: however it is always cut into a spiral twisted form,
in imitation of the ancient materials of which the lyre was composed.
The drawing I send you was from one of these instruments made
of wood (d).
The kingdom of Tigre, which is the largest and most populous
province of Abyssinia, and was, during many ages, the seat of the
court, was the first which received letters, and civil and religious
government ; it extended once to the Red Sea : various reasons and
revolutions have obliged the inhabitants to resign their sea coast
to different barbarous nations, Pagan and Mahometan ; while they
were in possession of it they say that the Red Sea furnished them
with tortoise shells, of which they made the bellies of their lyres,
as the Egyptians did formerly, according to Apollodorus, and
Lucian ; but having now lost that resource, they have adopted, in
its place, a particular species of gourd, or pumpkin, very hard and
thin in the bark, still imitating with the knife the squares,
compartments, and figure of the shell of the tortoise (e).
The Lyre is generally from three feet, to three feet six inches
high ; that is, from a line drawn through the point of the horns, to
the lower part of the base of the sounding board. It is exceedingly
light, and easy of carriage, as an instrument should naturally be, in
: so rugged and mountainous a country.
When we consider the parts which compose this lyre, we cannot
deny it the earliest antiquity. Man, in his first state, was a hunter,
and a fisher, and the oldest instrument was that which partakes most
of that state. The lyre composed of two principal pieces, owes the
one to the horns of an animal, the other to the shell of a fish.
It is probable that the lyre continued with Ethiopians in this
rude state, as long as they confined themselves to their rainy, steep,
and rugged mountains ; and afterwards, when many of them
descended along the Nile in Egypt, its portability would recommend
Lit in the extreme heats and weariness of their way. Upon their
arrival in Egypt, they took up their habitation in caves, in the
sides of mountains, which are inhabited to this day. Even in these
circumstances, an instrument larger than the lyre must have been
(4) See PL V. No'. 6.
(e) Pausanias, In Arcad. ad Caketn, says that " there was an excellent breed of tortoises, for the
purpose of mating the bellies of Lyres, upon Mount Parthenius ; but that the inhabitants supposing
these animals sacred to Pan, would neither use them, nor suffer strangers to take them away." This
is a proof that the practice of applying the shell of the tortoise to the lyre, was once common in Greece,:
as well as Abyssinia and Egypt.
i8o
HISTORY OF EGYPTIAN MUSIC
inconvenient, and liable to accidents, in those caverns ; but when
these people encreased in numbers and courage, they ventured down
into the plain, and built Thebes. Being now at their ease, and in a
fine climate, aU nature smiling around them, music, and other
arts, were cultivated and refined, and the imperfect 13716 was
extended into an instrument of double its compass and volume.
The size of the harp could be now no longer an objection, the Nile
carried the inhabitants every where easily, and without effort:
and we may naturally suppose in the fine evenings of that country,
that the Nile was the favourite scene upon which this instrument
was practised ; at least the sphinx and lotus upon its head, seem to
hint that it was someway connected with the overflowings of that
river.
Behind the ruins of the Egyptian Thebes, and a very little to the
N. W. of it, are a great number of mountains, hollowed into
monstrous caverns ; the sepulchres, according to tradition, of the
first kings of Thebes. The most considerable of these mountains
thus hollowed, contains a large sarcophagus of granite, of which
the lid only is broken. Pococke, I think, (for though I have
sometimes looked into him, I never could read him) was in this
grotto, and slept here, I Suppose, for he takes no notice of one of the
few monuments from which we may guess at the former state of
arts in Europe.
In the entrance of the passage which leads, sloping gently down,
into the chamber where is the sarcophagus, there are two pannels,
one on each side ; on that of the right is the figure of the scarab&us
Thebaicus, supposed to have been the hieroglyphic of immortality ;
on the left, is the crocodile, fixed upon the apis with his teeth, and
plunging him into the waves : these are both moulded in basso
relievo, in the stucco itself. This is a sufficient indication of the
grotto, to any one who ma}' wish to examine it again. At the end
of the passage on the left-hand, is the picture of a man playing upon
the harp, painted in fresco, and quite entire.
He is clad in a habit made like a shirt, such as the women still
wear in Abyssinia, and the men in Nubia. This seems to be white
linen ot muslin, with narrow stripes of red. It reaches down to
his ancles ; his feet are without sandals, and bare ; his neck and arms
are also bare ; his loose, wide sleeves are gathered about his elbows ;
his head is dose shaved ; he seems a corpulent man, of about fifty
years of age, in colour rather of the darkest for an Egyptian.
To guess by the detail of the figure, the painter should have had
about the same degree of merit with a good sign-painter in Europe ;
yet he has represented the action of the musician in a manner never
to be mistaken. His left hand seems employed in the upper part
of the instrument among the notes in alto, as if in an Arpeggio ; while
stooping forwards, he seems with his right hand to be beginning with
the lowest string, and promising to ascend with the most rapid
execution ; this action, so obviously rendered by an indifferent
artist, shews that it was a common one in his time, or, in other words,
•iSi
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
that great hands were then frequent, and consequently that music
was well understood, and diligently followed.
If we allow the performer's stature to be about five feet ten
inches, then we may compute the harp, in its extreme length to be
something less than six feet and a half. It seems to support itself
in equilibrio on its foot, or base, and needs only the player's guidance
to keep it steady. It has thirteen strings; the length of these, and
the force and liberty with which they are treated, shew that they are
made in a very different manner from those of the lyre.
This instrument is of a much more elegant form than the
triangular Grecian harp. It wants the fore-piece of the frame,
opposite to the longest string, which certainly must have improved
its tone, but must likewise have rendered the instrument itself
weaker, and more liable to accidents, if carriage had not been so
convenient in Egypt. The back part of the sounding-board,
composed of four thin pieces of wood, joined together in form of a
cone, that is, growing wider towards the bottom ; so that, as the
length of the string encreases, the square of the correspondent space,
in the sounding board, in which the tone is to undulate, always
encreases in proportion.
Besides that, the whole principles upon which the harp is
constructed are rational and ingenious, the ornamental parts are
likewise executed in the very best manner ; the bottom and sides of
the frame seem to be vaneered, or inlaid, probably with ivory,
tortoise-shell, and mother of pearl, the ordinary produce of the
neighbouring seas and deserts. It would be even now impossible to
finisfr an instrument with more taste and elegance.
Besides the elegance of its outward form, we must observe,
likewise, how near it approached to a perfect instrument; for it
wanted only two strings of having two complete octaves in
compass. Whether these were intentionally omitted or not, we
cannot now determine, as we have no idea of the music or taste of
that time; but if the harp be painted in the proportions in which
it was made, it might be demonstrated that it could scarce bear
more than the thirteen strings with which it was furnished.
Indeed the cross bar would break with the tension of the four
longest, if they were made of the size and consistence, and tuned
to the pitch that ours are at present.
I look upon this instrument, then, as the Theban harp, before
and at the time of Sesostris, who adorned Thebes, and probably
caused it to be painted there, as well as the other figures in the
sepulchre of his father, as a monument of the superiority which
Egypt had in music at that time, over all the barbarous nations
that he had seen or conquered. .
Astronomy, and, we may imagine, the other arts, made a
rapid progress at this period in Upper Egypt, and continued to
do so for fifty years after, between which time, and the Persian
conquest, some catastrophe must have happened that reduced them
to the lowest ebb, which historians have mistaken for their first
original.
182
HISTORY OF EGYPTIAN MUSIC
We know about the time of Sesostris, if, as Sir Isaac Newton
supposes, this prince and Sesac were the same, that in Palestine the
harp had only ten strings; but as David, while he played upon
it, both danced and sung before the ark, it is plain that the
instrument upon which he played, could have been but of small
volume, we may suppose little exceeding in weight our guitar;
though the origin of this harp was probably Egyptian, and from
the days of Moses it had been degenerating in size, that it might
be more portable in the many peregrinations of the Israelites.
The harp, that approaches the nearest to this in antiquity, is
represented upon a basso-relievo at Ptolemais, in the Cyrenaicum,
a city built by Ptolemy Philadelphus, and it is there twice
represented.
It has fifteen strings, or two complete octaves; but the adding
these two notes has occasioned likewise the addition of a fore-
piece to sustain the cross-bar above, so that its form is triangular;
the extremity of the base is rounded into a ram's-head, which
seems to allude to its Theban original; and I should imagine that
this instrument is likewise Egyptian, as no harp with such a number
of strings has ever been seen, that I know of, in Grecian sculpture.
As the application of pedals has enabled us to disengage the
modern harp from its multiplicity of strings, and brought it nearer
to Theban simplicity, I hope our artists, and Merlin in particular,
will likewise endeavour to introduce into its form a little of the
Theban elegance. It is the favourite of the fair sex, and nothing
should be spared to make it beautiful; for it should be a principal
object of mankind to attach them by every means to music, as it
is the only amusement that may be enjoyed to excess, and the
heart still remain virtuous and uncorrupted.
I shall say nothing of the capabilities of this harp, nor what
may be proved from it relative to -the state of music, at a time
when men were able to make such an instrument; I shall with
impatience expect this detail from you, better qualified than any
one I know now in Europe for this disquisition; it is a carious
one, and merits your utmost reflection and attention.
It overturns all the accounts of the earliest state of ancient
music and instruments in Egypt, and is altogether in its form,
ornaments, and compass, an incontestible proof, stronger than a
thousand Greek quotations, that geometry, drawing, mechanics,
and music, were at the greatest perfection when this harp was
made; and that what we think in Egypt was the invention of arts,
was only the beginning of the aera of their restoration.
I am, &c.,
JAMES BRUCE.
With respect to the Lyre resembling a tortoise, which is now in
common use in the particular province of Abyssinia, called Tigre,
I have only two observations to make, after the full and satis-
183
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
factory account that has been given of it by Mr. Bruce : the first is,
that its form exactly resembles the Testudo, which is represented
in the most ancient Greek sculpture, and described by the most
ancient authors : the second is, that it does not appear from history
that the Greeks ever penetrated into this country, or had any
communication with its inhabitants : for even Alexander the Great
never undertook an expedition against the Ethiopians, though
when he consulted the oracle of Jupiter Ammon, one of the first
enquiries he made, was after the sources of the Nile. Ptolemy
Euergetes, indeed, one of his successors in Egypt, having a
passionate desire, in common with almost all the greatest men of
antiquity, to discover the fountains of the Nile, with this view made
an irruption into Ethiopia; but as he soon retreated thence, it is
hardly to be imagined, that during a short hostile visit, he intro-
duced music, or any of the arts of peace among the inhabitants :
consequently, this instrument seems to have been originally invented
in this country, and to have continued in use there ever since.
I have now to speak of the Theban Harp, the most curious and
beautiful of all the ancient instruments that have come to my
knowledge. The number of strings, the size and form of this
instrument, and the elegance of its ornaments, awaken reflections,
which, to indulge, would lead me too far from my chief enquiries,
and indeed out of my depth. The mind is wholly lost in the
immense antiquity of the painting in which it is represented;
indeed the time when it was executed is so remote, as to encourage
a belief, that arts, after having been brought to great perfection,
were again lest, and again invented, long after this period; and
there can be no doubt but that human knowledge and refinements
have shared the same fate as the kingdoms in which they have
been cultivated. They have had their gradual rise and declension;
and in some of the countries first civilized, arts, by the arrival
of new invaders, and establishment of new modes, new laws, and
new governments, may be said to have experienced several deaths
and regenerations; or, according to the Pythagoric doctrine, their
souls may be said to have transmigrated through several bodies,
since they have been inhabitants of this world.
With respect to the number of strings upon this harp, if
conjectures may be allowed concerning the manner of tuning them
two might be offered to the reader's choice: the first idea that
presented itself at the sight of thirteen strings was, that they
would furnish all the semitones to be found in modern instruments,
within the compass of an octave, as from C to c, D to d, or E to e.
The second idea is more Grecian, and conformable to antiquity,
which is, that if the longest string represented Proslambanomenos,
or D, the remaining twelve strings would more than supply all
the tones, semi-tones, and quarter-tones, of the Diatonic, Chromatic,
and Enharmonic genera of the ancients, within the compass of an
octave: but, for my part, I should rather incline to the first
arrangement, as it is more natural, and more conformable to the
184
HISTORY OF EGYPTIAN MUSIC
structure of our organs than the second: for, with respect to the
Genera of the Greeks, though no certain historic testimony can
be produced concerning the invention of the Diatonic and
Chromatic, yet ancient writers are unanimous in ascribing to
Olympus, the Mysian, the first use of the Enharmonic (d); and
though in the beginning, the melody of this genus was so simple
and natural as to resemble the wild notes and rude essays of a
people not quite emerged from barbarism, yet, in after-times, it
became overcharged with finical fopperies, and fanciful beauties,
arising from such minute divisions of the scale, as had no other
merit than the difficulty of forming them.
Another conjecture concerning the tuning of the thirteen strings
of the Theban harp, is, that they furnished the four tetrachords,*
Hypaton, Meson, Synemmenon, and Diezeugmenon, with
Pfoslambanomenos at the bottom. Thus:
i, 2> 3» 4> 5» 6, 7» 8, 9, 10, n, 12,13.
It seems a matter of great wonder, with such a model before
their eyes as the Theban Harp, that the form and use of such an
instrument should not have been perpetuated by posterity, but that
many ages after, another, of an inferior kind, with fewer strings,
should take place of it ; yet, if we consider how little acquainted
we are at present with the use, and even construction of the
instruments which afforded the greatest delight to the Greeks and
Romans, or even with others in common use in a neighbouring part
of Europe but a few centuries ago (e), our wonder will cease ;
especially if we reflect upon the ignorance and barbarism into which
it is possible for an ingenious people to be plunged, by the tyranny
and devastation of a powerful and cruel invader.
It is but of small importance to us now, perhaps, to know what
kind of musical instruments were in use among the Egyptians, in
times so remote from our own ; indeed it is a humiliating
circumstance to reflect how little permanence there is in human
knowledge and acquirements ; and, before we attempt to improve
our intellects, or refine our reason, how long and laborious a work it
is to devise expedients for supplying the wants, and defending the
weakness of our nature. Some ages, and some countries, have been
more successful in these endeavours than others: however, there
seems to be a boundary set to the sum total of our perfectibility, and,
(d) See Dissertation.
(e) See, in the musical Tour through Germany and the Netherlands, an account of many modem
musical instruments still subsisting at Antwerp, of which the use is wholly unknown, vol. i. p. 41.
* Engel (op. cit.) says that " this determination of the 13 intervals in accordance with the Greek
system might oe correct ii the harp dated from the time of the Ptolomies ; but it was a thousand years
older. At that period the pentatomic series was, as we have seen, most likely the usual one in Egypt.
Even the scale of Olympus of Mysias to which Burney alludes was of a rfmitai- character." This
implies that the Theban frescoes must be at least 3,000 years old.
185
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
like the stone of Sisyphus, when we are arrived with infinite toil at
a certain height, we are precipitated back to the level whence we
set off, and the work is to do again !
The arts and sciences of Egypt seem to have been long lost before
prose was written in Greece, as no historian of that country ever saw
Egypt in the time of its prosperity. Pythagoras was there a little
before, and at the time of the Persian conquest, having been taken
prisoner by Cambyses in Egypt, whence he was sent to Babylon :
but of his writings nothing now remains, except a few apophthegms
and fragments, which tradition has given to him. From the time
that Psammenitus, the last native king of Egypt, was defeated by
Cambyses, 525 years B.C. the inhabitants of that county were
always under a foreign yoke, and consequently from that period may
be dated their ruin, and the utter extirpation of science and liberty
among them : for honours and emoluments being wholly lavished
upon foreigners, all expansion of genius must have been restrained
among the natives, now become abject and debased by neglect, or
oppression. Indeed, after their voluntary submission to Alexander
the Great, the dazzling glory of whose reign and character made
them prefer his tyranny to that of the Persians, they had a race of
splendid princes in the Ptolemies, that cultivated and encouraged
arts and sciences, particularly Music ; but these arts and sciences
were wholly Grecian, and their professors Greeks ; for the native
inhabitants had long lost everything, but the superstitious rites and
ceremonies of their religion. They had no books, but hieroglyphics,
which were now no longer intelligible, even to the Egyptians them-
selves ; and we do not find, after the time of Alexander, that any
"were ever written, but in the Greek language.
It may be therefore said that the Egyptians ceased to be a people,
at least a great and free people, before the time of the first Ptolemy,
who founded the kingdom, which subsisted near 300 years under
him and his successors. The first three of these monarchs, Ptolemy
Soter [Reigned B.C. 323-285], Ptolemy Philadelphia [Reigned .
B.C. 285-247], and Ptolemy Euergetes [Reigned B.C. 247-222],
were magnificent princes, who encouraged arts and sciences, and
by their bounty attracted to their court at Alexandria, men of genius
and learning from all parts of the world. By these their characters
have been handed down to us with perhaps too much tenderness
to their vices and infirmities. Augustus, Leo X. and Louis XIV. by
rendering themselves favourites of the Muses in later times, found
means to silence satire, and to have the fair side only of their
characters turned towards posterity: however, nothing is more
certain than that these princes were not wholly exempt from human
frailties, over which the gauze of flattery has been spread by those
who basked in their smiles ; but though such have been silent as to
the defects of the Ptolemies in Egypt, their subjects in general were
not blinded by that magnificence which was supported at their
expence, as most of the cognomens given to these princes were
ironical, and intended not to point out the virtues which they
possessed, but those of which they stood most in need: as
HISTORY OF EGYPTIAN MUSIC
Philadelphus, the lover of his brother; Euergetes, beneficent;
Philopator, the lover of his father ; Pkilomator, the lover of his
mother ; titles that were given to sovereigns who had been so
unnatural and cruel as to put to death their fathers, mothers, wives,
brothers, sisters, and children !
During the reigns of these sumptuous and voluptuous princes it
can hardly be doubted but that music was greatly cultivated and
encouraged at Alexandria, Athenseus, in his (/) minute description of
the celebrated Bacchic Festival, given by Philadelphus, tell us,
that more than six hundred musicians were employed in the chorus,
and that among these there were three hundred performers on the
cithara.
Under the seventh Ptolemy [Reigned B.C. 146-117], surnamed
Physcon, from his corpulency, and Cacergetes, from his cruelty,
the same author informs us (g), that every species of art and science
was cherished and taught in Egypt. For this prince having put to
death a great number of the citizens of Alexandria, and banished
others who had been attached to his brother, from whom he had
usurped the crown, filled his dominions with Grammarians,
Philosophers, Geometricians, Musicians, School-masters, Painters,
Physicians, and other persons capable of perfecting the arts ; and
these having no other subsistence than the fruits of their labour and
diligence, contributed greatly to the propagation of knowledge
throughout Egypt (h).
The father of Cleopatra, and the last of the Ptolemies [B.C.
80-51], derived the title of Auletes, or the Flute-player, from his
excessive attachment to that instrument. Strabo says of him (i),
that besides his debaucheries, he applied himself in a particular
manner to playing on the flute. He had such an opinion of his own
abilities, as to institute musical contests at his palaces, and had there
the courage to dispute the prize, publicly, with the first musicians of
his time ; and as the dress of players on the flute among the ancients
was peculiar to that profession (&), this prince submitted to wear
the robe, the buskins, the crown, and even the bandage and veil
of a Tibicen, as may be seen on a beautiful Amethyst in the king of
France's possession, of inestimable value, which is supposed to have
been engraved by command of this prince, and worn by him to
gratify his vanity on account of his musical excellence. Indeed the
surname of Auletes is seriously given to him by Cicero, and by
Strabo. The first in his defence of Rabirius Posthumus (I) ; and
the second, who was likewise his cotemporary, never mentions
(/) Lib. v. Ed. Casattb. p. *oi. (g} Ib. lib. iv. p. 184.
(h) It was perhaps during this period that the practice of music became sufficiently general
among thewmmon people of Egypt, to render credible the following assertion of a Dipnosophist fc
Athenaeus : " It does not appear by the writings of any historian, says he, that there ever was a people
more skilled in music than those of Alexandria ; for the most wretched peasant or labourer among
them, is not only able to play upon tht IJTO, but is likewise a perfect master o! the flute," Lib. iv. p. 176
(t) Lib. xvii. (ft) There was one also for the lyrists.
(J) Nam vt veniwn est Alexandria™ and Auletem, &c.
187
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
him but by the title of Auktus (m) . He had likewise an opprobrious
appellation given to him, by his own subjects, in the Egyptian
language, of the same import, being called Phothingos, or
Phothingios, from Phothinx, Monaulos, or single flute. His violent
passion for music, and for the company of musicians, gained him
the name of NEOS DIONYSOS, the new Bacchus.
A melancholy truth forces itself upon the mind in reading the
history of this prince, and that of the Emperor Nero, whom he very
much resembled, which is, that, if the heart is depraved, music has
not the power to correct it. And though these musical princes
obtained prizes in the public games, they acquired no honour to
themselves, nor did they reflect any upon the profession of Music.
A musician is so distant in character and dignity from a sovereign
prince, that the one must stoop too low, or the other mount too high,
before they can approximate ; and the public suffers with equal
impatience, a sovereign who degrades himself, or an artist who
aspires at a rank above his station in the community.
An inordinate love of fame, or a rapacious desire of monopolizing
all the glory as well as goods of this world to themselves, must have
incited these princes to enter the lists in competition with persons
so much their inferiors : a passion that should always be distinguished
from the love of music, which they might have gratified, either from
their own performance, or from that of others, in private, much
more commodiously than on a public stage.
Notwithstanding all the proofs that have been already given,
and which might be still produced of the cultivation of music by
the Egyptians in very remote antiquity, as well as of the manner
in which it was afterwards patronized by their sovereigns of Greek
extraction, many ancient writers who visited Egypt after it was
made a Roman province, speak of the habitants as the most
melancholy and abject race of men upon the globe. According
to Am. Marcellinus (ri), they were not formed for mirth and
pleasure; they worshipped their Gods with sorrow and tears, while
the Greeks and Romans made religion an object of joy and
festivity: and we are not only told by Diodorus Siculus, but by
Plutarch, that the cultivation of music, an art which the Greeks
thought so necessary to humanize and soften mankind, and render
them gentle and obedient to the laws, was prohibited by their
government* Dio Chrysostom informs us that poetry was inter-
dicted among them, as well as music; and Strabo says that the
sound of instruments was not heard in their temples, but that their
sacrifices were made in silence.
All this is reconcileable and consonant to the nature of things :
for when these writers visited Egypt, its inhabitants were in a state
of slavery, and had been so for 500 years before; and though not,
(m) AvXijTTjs 6 Kaff Jjj&as, ooirep rjv njs KXeoTrarpa? irarnp. Lib. xvii.
(n) Lib. zxii. cap. 16.
188
HISTORY OF EGYPTIAN MUSIC
like the Jews, in a strange land, yet, like them, " they had hung
their harps on the willows."
M. Pau (o), however, boldly asserts, that " the Egyptians,
from a defect in the construction of their organs, and a want of
genius, have never had any music but what was as detestable as
that of the inhabitants of Asia and Africa is at present. "If,"
continues this author, " we consider the formation of a sistrum,
whether of gold or iron, we must conclude that nothing but noise
could proceed from it, which being united with the sound of a
coarse flute, and the bleating of the ox Apis, would constitute
such dissonance and jargon, as no ear accustomed to real music
could support. As to the other musical instruments of Egypt,
such as the Flageolet, Horn, Syrinx, Castagnet, Triangle, and
Tambourine, it is easy," says he, " to imagine what kind of
melody could be produced from them. Indeed it was so contempt-
ible, that the priests would not allow it admission within the walls
of their temples, where they sung their sacred hymns without being
accompanied by any kind of instrument. But with respect to the
general use of such music as they had, it seems to have served,
adds M. Pau, as a necessary stimulus to action among the
inhabitants of this county in ancient times, who were as unable as
most of the Asiatics and Africans are at present, to perform any
kind of labour, without being excited by screaming and noise;
for such is the natural sloth and indolence of these people, that
they want to be roused and animated every instant by the
shrilness of flutes, and din of drums; instruments that have ^been
found in every region of the two hemispheres where the climate
is hot. Soft tones and graceful melody have no effect upon their
obtuse organs; and this is the reason why music never has been,
nor ever can be successfully cultivated among them."
This reasoning, however, does not appear to me so decisive as it
does to the author. And there seems to be a want of candour in
the supposition of M. Pau, with respect to the Sistrum, which
was never regarded by the Egyptians as a musical instrument, but
merely as a signal of religious ceremonies; for it may with equal
justice be asserted that the modern Italians are deficient in the
construction of their organs of voice, and in their genius for music,
because a little tinkling bell is used in all their churches as signal
for the performance of certain ceremonies in their religion. Nor
does the use that was made of music by the Egyptians as a
stimulus to action reflect any particular disgrace upon them; for
Athenaeus (p) gives a list of songs that were sung, and tunes that
were played by the Greeks of different professions; by which
it appears that hardly any kind of work was performed by them
without music. The Romans on many occasions made a like
use of it: and the ancient Greeks and Romans were certainly a
(o) Rechcrckes Philos. sur les Egypt, et Its Chinois. Tome i. p. 343, <* suivant.
(/>) Lib. adv. p. 6x8.
189
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
bold, manly, and robust people: the modern Scots are the same;
however the bagpipe and song regulate all their operations. It
seems to admit of but little doubt that the Egyptians had, in the
most flourishing times of their empire, a music and instruments of
their own, far superior to those of other countries less civilized
and refined; that after their subjection by the Persians, this music
and these instruments were lost: but under the Ptolemies, music,
together with the other arts of Greece, were brought into Egypt,
and encouraged at the court of Alexandria more than at any other
place in the known world, till the captivity of Cleopatra, an event
which terminated both the empire and history of the Egyptians.
190
THE HISTORY
OF HEBREW MUSIC
IT is not so much from the hope of being able to throw any
new light upon the music of this ancient people, that I
dedicated a chapter to the subject, as out of respect for the
first and most .venerable of all books, as well as for the religion
of my country, and for that of the most enlightened part of
mankind, which has been founded upon it.
For, notwithstanding the unremitting labours of the first fathers
of the church, and the learning and diligence of innumerable
translators and commentators, but few materials of great importance
can be acquired for this part of my work, except what the Bible
itself contains; as the first periods of the history of the ancient
Hebrews, from its high antiquity, can receive no illustration
from cotemporary historians, or from human testimony,
The chief part of what I have to do, therefore, is to collect the
passages relative to those early ages of the world, the transactions
of which are recorded in the sacred writings with such true and
genuine simplicity, and to arrange them in chronological order;
a task which, however trivial and easy it may seem, will not be
without its use in a General History of Music; as it will at least
shew, that this art has always had admission into the religious
ceremonies, public festivals, and social amusements of mankind.
The construction and use of musical instruments have a very
early place among the inventions attributed to the first inhabitants
of tie globe, by Moses: for, Genesis, chap. iv. verse 21, Jubal,
the sixth descendant from Cain, is called " the father of all such
as handle the harp and organ/'
But though this circumstance is mentioned so soon in the
Pentateuch, yet it could have happened but a short time before the
deluge, A.M. 1656; consequently the world must have been
peopled many centuries before the invention took place (a).
(a) With respect to the instrument called an Organ, in the English version of this passage, it must
not be 'imagined that such a noble and complicated machine is there implied, as the present instrument
of that name. In the Hebrew it is called hu%gab, which, say the commentators, was a kind of syrinx,
or fistula. The Septuagint, instead of harp and organ, has \jnkmptov «ru Ktfapov, psaUry and
. ,
cith&ra ; the Syriac, cttharam et fides ; Chaldean paraphrase, ipsefuii mapistsr omnium catientium in
nablio, scientium cantium cithara et organ*. Nablion is the Hebrew word for harp. The Arabic has
tympanum et citharam ; and the French has Is VTOLON ales orgu&.
Hence it appears, that the translators, ancient and modern, of all parts of the world, not knowing
what were the real forms and properties of the Hebrew instruments, have given to them the names of
such as were of the most common use in their own countries. '
191
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
No mention, however, is made in the Scriptures of the practice
of music, till more than six hundred years after the deluge. But
in Genesis xxxi. and 26th and 27th verses, about 1739 years before
Christ, according to the Hebrews chronology, both vocal and
instrumental music are spoken of as things in common use.
"And Laban said to Jacob, what hast thou done, that thou
has stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters,
as captives taken with the sword?
" Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from
me? and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with
mirth and with songs, with tabret, and with harp!"
Laban was a Syrian, and brother to Rebecca, Isaac's wife;
so that the tabret and the harp should be ranked among Assyrian
instruments.
After this time the sacred text furnishes no musical incident,
till the year 1491 before Christ, when we have the first hymn, or
psalm, to the Supreme Being, upon record. It contains the pious
effusions of Moses, after the passage of the Red Sea, at the head
of the whole people of Israel, just escaped from bondage.
" Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto
the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he
hath triumphed gloriously," &c. Exod. xv.
Moses is seconded on this occasion by Miriam, the prophetess,
and sister of Aaron, who " took a timbrel in her hand," ver, 20;
"and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with
dances."
"And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the Lord," &c.
Here is an early instance of women being permitted to bear a
part in the performance of religious rites, as well as of vocal music
being accompanied by instrumental, and by dancing.
The dithyrambics, or hymns to Bacchus, of the Greeks, have
been supposed to originate from Egypt (6).* These were constantly
accompanied by instruments, and by dance, even after they were
incorporated into tragedy. Now as Miriam was an Egyptian,
and just escaped from the country where she had been educated,
it is natural to suppose that the dance used now, and established
afterwards by the Hebrews, in the celebration of religious rites,
was but the continuation of an Egyptian custom.
And we find music and dancing, soon after this ceremony,
applied to another, that was indisputably of the same origin : for
the people having obliged Aaron, in the absence of his brother, to
make ,them a golden calf, in the likenesss of the Egyptian idol,
(b) See Dissert, Sect. ii.
The abbe* Vatry, in an excellent essay upon the Origin and Progress of Tragedy, Mem. de Lit*,
torn* XV. says, that all the etymologies of the term dithyrambic, are so forced, that he is firmly of opinion
the word is not Greek, and that both the name and thing were brought from Egypt with the worship of
Bacchus ; for the Greeks are by no means agreed concerning the person who first made them acquainted
with Bacchus ; some affirming it to have been Cecrops, some Melampus, and some Orpheus ; but all
unite in deriving the worship of fofo God from the Egyptians.
* The more developed form of dithyrambic is supposed to have grown out of some erotic hymns
written by Arion at Corinth or Naxos about 620 B.C. For previous mention of Anon see ante p. 161.
192
HISTORY OF HEBREW MUSIC
Apis, were found singing and dancing before it, by Moses, at his
return to the camp (c).
The trumpet of the jubilee is likewise ordered to be sounded so
soon after the flight from Egypt (d), that it must have been an
Egyptian instrument.
St. Stephen tells us (e), that- Moses, having been educated by
Pharaoh's daughter "as her own son, was learned in all the
wisdom of the Egyptians." And Clemens Alexandrinus (/) parti-
cularizes his acquirements by affirming that " he was instructed
in his maturer age by the Egyptians in all liberal sciences, as
arithmetic, geometry, rhythm, harmony, but, above all, medicine,
and music."
However, in the infancy of a state, a nation has but little
leisure for cultivating music any otherwise than as it is connected
with religious rites and the military art. Accordingly we find no
other musical instrument mentioned during the administration of
the great Hebrew legislator than trumpets, except the timbrel,
used by Miriam. Numb. chap. x. 2, he is ordered by divine
command to make two trumpets of silver of a whole piece, " for
assembling together the people, and for journeying the camps/'
And in the eight following verses all the signals to be sounded by
one and by two trumpets are regulated. But these instruments
seem to differ from that of the jubilee, mentioned before, in
nothing but the materials of which they were made : as the Hebrew
text, and the several versions, agree in calling them all by one
common name.
The feast of trumpets instituted by Moses, Numb. xxix. 1, in
the month of September, is imagined to have been the celebration
of harvest home. "And in the seventh month, on the first day
of the month, ye shall have a holy convocation; ye shall do no
servile work; it is a day of blowing the trumpets unto you." The
rigid observance of the Sabbath upon every seventh day, rendered
seven a sacred number among the Hebrews. Hence, not only the
seventh day, but the seventh week, the seventh month, the seventh
year, and seven times seventh year, were kept holy: " And on
the fiftieth year thou shalt cause the trumpet of the jubilee to
sound throughout the land." Levit, xxv. 9.
The trumpets of rams horns used at the siege of Jericho, seem
to have been less musical instruments, than military signals for
the assailants to march and shout by, in order, by their noise, to
terrify and dismay the enemy.
Upon this occasion all the powers of the number seven were
put in practice. " Seven priests shall bear before them seven
trumpets, and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven
times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets." Josh. vi. 4,
(c) Exod. xxxii ver. 18 and 19. (<9 Levit. xxv. 9.
(«) Acts viL ver. ax, 22. (/) Stromat. W. i.
Vox,, i. 13 -XW.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
No further mention is made of music, till the song of Deborah
and Barak, Judges v. which seems to have been sung in dialogue,
and wholly without instruments. It was about fifty years after
this period, and eleven hundred and forty-three years before Christ,
that the unfortunate daughter of Jephtha, upon hearing of her
father's victory over the Ammonites, went out to meet him with
timbrels and with dances: Judges ii: 34. From this time, till
Saul was chosen king, 1095, B.C. the sacred text is wholly silent
about every species of music, except that of the trumpet in military
expeditions.
But here an incident occurs, which seems to merit particular
attention. It appears from many passages in Scripture, that music
was as nearly allied to prophesy as to poetry.
When Samuel, after secretly anointing Saul king, instructs the
new monarch in the measures he is to pursue for establishing
himself on the throne, he says, "And it shall come to pass, when
thou art come to the city (Beth-el), that thou shalt meet a company
of prophets coming down from the high place, with a psaltery
and tabret, and a pipe, and a harp before them, and they shall
prophesy. And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and
thou shalt prophesy with them (g)."
Who is ignorant, says Quintilian, that music in ancient times
was so much cultivated, and held in such veneration, that musicians
were called by the names of prophets and sages (h) ? *
Vates, in Latin, is a common term for prophet, poet, and
musician. Clemens Alexandrinus (&), describing the different kinds
of Egyptian priests, and their functions, says, that the principal
of them were called Prophets. The oracles of the ancients were
delivered in song; and the Pythian priests, who composed into
hexameter verse the loose and disjointed expressions of the
agonizing Pythia, were styled prophets, neotpijTai (j). These
according to Plutarch (£), " were seated round the sanctuary, in
order to receive the words of the Pythia, and inclose them
immediately into a certain number of verses, as liquors are enclosed
in bottles."
Olen, one of the first priests of Apollo, was at once poet and
prophet ; and Phemonoe, the first priestess at Delphos, is related to
have delivered her oracles in verse by inspiration only, without study
or assistance.
(g) i Sam, ch. x, 5.
(h) Nam quis ignorat musicen, ut de hoc primum lo-juar. tantum jam antiquis temporibus non
studii modo, verwn etiam vencrationis habuisse, ui iidem musici, et votes, et sapientes indicarentur ?
last m. L cap. 16.
(t) Strom, v. p. 634. (j) Pausanias, in Phoc.
(ft) In his Treatise on the Cessation of Grades.
* Frazer in The Golden Bough (op. cit., p. 335) says : "... the influence of music on the develop-
ment of religion is a subject which would repay a sympathetic study. For we cannot doubt that this,
the most intimate and affecting of all the arts, has done much to create as well as to express the religious
emotions, thus modifying more or less deeply the fabric of belief to which at first sight it seems only to
minister. The musician has done his part as well as the prophet and the thinker in the making of
religion. Every faith has its appropriate music, and the difference between the creeds might almost
be expressed in musical notation."
194
HISTORY OF HEBREW MUSIC
The improvvisatori of Italy are still accompanied by an instru-
ment, like the prophets of old ; and Italian poets, who write down
verses, sing at the time of composing them (/).
The examples in Scripture of this union of music and prophecy
are numerous (m)7~^Ttoreover, David, and the captains of the
host, separated to the service of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman,
and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries,
and with cymbals. — Of the sons of Asaph, four, who prophesied
according to the order of the King: — Of Jeduthun, six, who
prophesied with a harp, to give thanks, and to praise the Lord.
And of the sons of Heman, the king's seer, in the words of God,
fourteen, to lift up the horn (n)."
By the most striking example of the custom practised by the
prophets, of tranquillizing their minds, and exciting in themselves
divine inspiration, by means of music, is in the second book of
Bangs (0).
The three sovereigns of Israel, Judah, and Edom, marching
with their armies through a wilderness, were all upon the point of
being destroyed by thirst, as there was no water to be found in their
passage, either for man or beast.
" And the king of Israel said, Alas! that the Lord hath called
these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moxab.
But Jehoshaphat said, is there not here a prophet of the Lord,
that we may enquire of the Lord by him? And one of the king
of Israel's servants answered and said, Here is Elisha, the son of
Shaphat. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, and the king of
Edom, went down to him. — And Elisha said, bring me a minstrel.
And it came to pass when the minstrel played, that the hand of the
Lord came upon him, and he said, Thus saith the Lord, make
this valley full of ditches/' &c.
Prophet, in some parts of the Scripture, seems to imply little
more than a mere poet, or psalmodist, who sung extempore verses
to the sound of an instrument, as the improvvisatori of Italy and
Spain do at present. Sometimes, indeed, such inspiration was not
likely to be of great service to the person upon whom it was conferred,
nor on his hearers ; for we are told, 1 Sam. chap, xviii. 10 " that
the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the
midst of the house."
It is supposed by many of the fathers and commentators, that
the ancient Hebrews had a college, or school, of prophets, which
must likewise have been a school of music ; as the passages already
cited from the sacred writings fully prove, that the prophets either
accompanied themselves, or were accompanied by others with
musical instruments, in the exercise of their functions.
David, by having cultivated music so. early, seems to have been
intended by his family for the profession of a prophet. St. Ambrose
(Z) This circumstance having been doubted, the Abate Metastasio himself was asked, whether
the poets of his country sung at the time of writing verses ? and his answer was, sicwo!
(m) See particularly i Kings, chap. xix. with the commentary of Don Calmet.
(») i Chron, chap. »v. (a) Chap.fiL 15,
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
says, that he had always the gift of prophesy, and was chosen by
God himself, in preference to all other prophets, to compose
psalms (p).
And, according to Eusebius, David carried his harp, or, as this
prelate calls it, his lyre, with him, wherever he went ; to console
him in his affliction, and to sing to it the praises of God. And in
his preface to the Psalms, he asserts, that this prince, as head of
the prophets, was generally in the tabernacle, with his lyre, amidst
the other prophets and singers, and that each of them prophesied and
sung his canticle as inspiration came on (q).
The Chaldean paraphrase understands by prophesying,
" adoring God, and singing praises unto him."
The great Sanhedrim, says the bishop of Gloucester (r), seems
to have been established after the failure of prophesies. And
concerning the members of this body, the Rabbins tell us, there was
a tradition, that they were bound to be skilled in all sciences.
But in order to preserve the chronological chain of musical events,
furnished by the sacred text, it will be necessary to resume the
narrative at the time when David, on account of his great skill in
music, was first called in to administer relief, by the power of his
harp, to Saul, afflicted with an evil spirit.
If it be possible for music to operate medicinally with success, it
may be imagined a palliative, at least, if not a cure, for a troubled
spirit. The human mind, under the pressure of affliction, or warped
and agitated by the contention of warring passions, seems a fit
subject for soft and soothing strains to work upon, as powerful
anodynes.
Without having recourse to a miracle in the case of Saul, who had
offended the Divinity by his disobedience, the whole of David's
power over the disorder of that unfortunate prince, might be
attributed to his skilful and affecting manner of performing upon
the harp.
" And Saul's servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit
from God troubleth thee. Let our lord command now thy servants
which are before thee, to seek out a man who is a cunning player on
a harp (s). And it shall come to pass when the evil spirit (t) from
God is upon thee, and he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt
be well. And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man
that can play well, and bring him to me. Thenv answered one of
the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the
Beth-lehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man,
and a man of war ; and prudent in matters, and a comely person,
and the Lord is with him/1
(£) Pnzrf. in Psal. i.
(q) It seems from a passage in i Chron. xxv. 2. as if Asaph used to prophesy, that is, sing praises
to the accompaniment of David's harp.
(?) Div. Leg. vol. iii. p. 352.
(s) It should seem from this passage, that music was regarded by the Hebrews as a common cure
for madness.
(t) That is, the fit. of -insanity.
196
HISTORY OF HEBREW MUSIC
" Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me
David thy son, which is with the sheep. And Jesse took an ass,
laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by
David his son unto Saul. And David came to Saul, and stood before
him. And he loved him greatly, and he became his armour-bearer.
And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, let David, I pray thee, stand before
me ; for he hath found favour in my sight. And it came to pass,
when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an
harp, and played with his hand : so Saul was refreshed, and was well,
and the evil spirit departed from him (u)."
It was very natural for the power of this medicine to cease, when
the patient had no more faith in him who administered it, but, on
the contrary, regarded him with a jealous eye, as one aspiring at
his crown; and who, if he did not conspire against his life, must look
upon it as an impediment to his exaltation, and impatiently wish for
its termination : for Saul not to have had these ideas forced upon his
mind, he must have been more, or less, than mortal. The human
passions, those. gales of life, must either have been annihilated, or
sublimed by angelic refinement. But the history of this prince
furnishes too many instances of human weakness and frailty, to allow
us to suppose him either insensible, or superior to his situation. We
must therefore suppose his disease now to have become too powerful
for so gentle a remedy as music. Nor ought we to imagine that a
disease, or " an evil spirit from the Lord, with which he was
troubled," was intended to be radically cured by human means,
though it had at first given way to them.
Soon after David had manifested by this instance his musical
skill, we find him a volunteer in the army of Saul, and giving
extraordinary proofs of his military prowess, by his victory over
Goliath, the champion of the Philistines, who had struck such a
terror into his countrymen, that they all declined to accept his
challenge, regarding him as invincible. David returning from the
field of battle after his victory over the giant, was met by the women
of all the cities of Israel, " singing and dancing, with tabrets, with
joy, and with instruments of music." 1 Sam. xviii. 6 (#). " And
the women answered one another as they played, and said," &c.
This is an indubitable proof of a chant in dialogue, or, a dui con,
being in early use : and it was this which probably gave rise to the
manner of chanting the Psalms in the cathedral service. Psalm
Ixviii. 25, the damsels play with timbrels in the procession before
the ark. Women, even, says Don Calmet, whom the apostle forbids
to speak in church, had the privilege to sing there in company with
the men. But many proofs might be alledged of a permission being
given for females to assist in the performance of sacred rites. In
I Chron. chap. xxv. where the musical establishments for religious
purposes are aU enumerated, we are told, that " God gave to Heman
(u\ i Sam. chap. xvi. This event happened, according to the Bible chronology, 1063 years before
Christ. The harp tfiat David used upon the occasion, is called in the Hebrew Kinor.
(*) In tywpemis latitus et sistris, says the Septuagint. But the ancient rabbins, and modern
Jews, are not agreed among themselves with respect to the instruments mentioned in the Old Testa-
ment; so that it is as vain to attempt at reconcihng, as at converting them.
197
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
fourteen sons and three daughters. And all these were tinder the
hands of their father for song, in the house of the Lord, with cymbals,
psalteries, and harps." But Miriam, Deborah, Judith, and Anne,
the mother of Samuel, are all regarded by the Jews, not only as
singers, but as poetesses and prophetesses.
In the reign of king David, music was held in the highest
estimation by the Hebrews. The genius of that prince for music, and
his attachment to the study and practice of it, as well as the great
number of musicians appointed by him for the performance of
religious rites and ceremonies, could not fail to extend its influence,
and augment its perfections : for it was during this period that music
was first honoured, by being admitted in the ministry of sacrifice,
and worship of the ark ; as well as by being cultivated by a king.
" And David, and all the house of Israel, played before the
Lord, on all manner of instruments, made of firwood (y), even on
harps and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on
cymbals." 2 Sam. chap. vi. 5 (z).
This is related 1 Chron. chap xiii. 8, in nearly the same words :
" And David and all Israel played before God with all their
might, and with singing and with harps, and with psalteries, and
with timbrels, and with cymbals and with trumpets (a)."
In all the translations these instruments are differently named.
In the Syriac we are told, that David and all Israel sung before the
Lord, accompanied by the cithara, psaltery, cymbal, andsistrum (6).
The joy which David shewed, upon this occasion, in leaping,
dancing, -singing, and playing, almost naked before the ark, seemed,
in the eyes of his queen Michal, to exceed the bounds of moderation,
so much, that when she saw him from the window, " she despised
him in her heart," 2 Sam. vi. 16. and, afterwards upbraided him, in
terms not very honourable to musicians in general.
" And Michal, the daughter of Saul, came to meet David, and
said, How glorious was the king of Israel to-day, who uncovered
himself in the eyes of the hand-maids of his servants, as one of the
vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself! "
Now it is much to be feared, that by the vain fellows, the queen
meant Levitical singers, musicians by trade, who, perhaps, like
the ancient priests of the Syrian goddess, the Galli, used to sing
and play in the processions naked.
(y) This species of wrod, so soft in its nature, and sonorous in its effects, seems to have been
preferred by the ancients, as well as the moderns, to every other kind, for the construction of musical
instruments, particularly the bellies of them, upon which their tone chiefly depends. Those of the
harp, lute, guitar, harpsichord, and violin, in present use, are constantly made of firwood.
(*) Heb. Nablis, A cinyris, et cymbalis, et tympanis. Septuag. fr opyavoi* KCU ev wS-u?, ev
vajSXats, ev Tv/jtrravaw, tv icv|U.8aAais, K<U ey avAois. Vulg. Citharis et lyris, et tympanis, et
sistris, et cymbalis. Syr. David autem omnes Israelite ludebant coram Domino lignis cedrinis et
abiegnis, nablis, citharis, tympanis, sistris, ac cymbalis. The Targum, or Chaldee paraphrase, men-
tions an instrument not to be found in the original, or in any of the translations : in chinans, in
nablis, in tympanis, et in quadruplicibus, et cymbalis. Arab. Fidibus, nablis, tympanis quadratis, et
cymbalis. Here it should seem to be a square drum.
a) Don Calmet observes, that by the titles of many of the Psalms, it appears as if David, though
a great king, did not disdain to perform himself the part of maestro di capetta, or director of the sacred
band of musicians ; and, penetrated as be was with the grandeur of the Supreme. Being, he never
thought he degraded himself by singing before the Lord, any more than by conducting the musical
performers on great and solemn occasions.
(*) In the Arabic it is with flutes, cymbals, bells, and harps.
198
HISTORY OF HEBREW MUSIC
In the fifteenth, sixteenth, and twenty-third chapters of the first
book of Chronicles, there is a particular account and enumeration
of all the musicians appointed bv David in the service of the ark,
before a temple was erected. 1 Chron. xxiii. 5. David appoints four
thousand of the Levites to praise the Lord with instruments ; and
chap. xxv. ver. 1. the number of such as were instructed, and were
cunning in song, is said to have been two hundred fourscore and
eight.
And, 1 Chron. ix. 33. we are told of " the singers, chief of the
fathers of the Levites, who remaining in the chambers, were free :
for they were employed in that work day and night."
Before this time, it does not appear from the sacred writings, that
any other instruments than trumpets, or singing, than in a general
chorus of the whole people, was used in the daily celebration of
religious rites ; though others are mentioned in processions, and on
occasions of joy and festivity.
It has ever been the custom of legislators and founders of religion,
in compliance with the prejudices of mankind, to retain part of the
former laws and religious institutions. The Egyptians, as has
been already related, in the preceding chapter, divided the
inhabitants of their country into Castes, or tribes, confining each
profession to one family. And as music was many ages confined
by them to the priesthood, and to religious purposes, the Hebrews, ,
who had their arts and sciences from the Egyptians, and who
adopted many of their religious rites, as the primitive Christians
did afterwards those of the pagans, in order to conciliate parties,
and facilitate the establishment of a new worship, made both priests
and musicians hereditary in the tribe of Levi. " And the sons of
Aaron the priests shall blow with the trumpets, and they shall be
to you for an ordinance -for ever, throughout your generations (c)."
Accordingly, during the life of Moses, none but the priests blew
the trumpets, whether in peace or war : as, afterwards, in Joshua's
administration, both at the siege of Jericho, and upon all other
occasions, we find the office of blowing the trumpets was still
confined to the priesthood: and, when David first regulated the
musical establishments, for the service of religion, it appears, that
not only the select band of singing men and singing women, but
all the four thousand performers upon instruments, were chosen
from the families of priests and Levites.
Of the Musical Instruments Mentioned
in the Psalms
To collect and expound all the passages relative to music in the
Psalms of David, would be a useless labour. So many learned
commentators have already done this work ; and these divine
canticles may be imagined to be so deeply impressed in the hearts
of all such as profess the Christian religion, both by education, and
(c) Numb. x. 8.
199
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
by constantly hearing them in the service of their several churches,
that it would be the highest presumption in me to suppose myself
capable of offering any thing new on the subject. However, the
musical instruments so frequently mentioned in them, and the
address prefixed to a great number of the Bible Psalms, shall have
a few remarks bestowed upon them here ; as the subject, in a
particular manner, seems to belong to the reign of the royal
Psalmist, from whose piety, and poetic genius, so many of them
are supposed to have flowed.
The fathers and commentators, however, are of opinion, that
David neither was, nor could have been, the author of the whole
book of Psalms ; as many of them were evidently written upon
occasions that happened after his death. The learned and diligent
Don Calmet, after the most deliberate investigation of the subjects
of the several Psalms, has arranged them under the following
heads :
I. Psalms of which the chronology cannot be fixed : these are
eight in number: the 1st, 4th, 19th, 81st, 91st, 110th, 139 and
145. It is not known whether David, or Asaph, was author of
the first Psalm. The 81st, attributed to Asaph, was sung in the
temple upon the Feast of Trumpets, at the beginning of the year,
and at the Feast of Tabernacles. The 110th is given to David ;
the authors of the rest are wholly unknown (d) .
II. Psalms composed by David, during the persecution of Saul,
in number seventeen: these are the llth, 31, 34, 56, 16, 54, 52,
109, 17, 22, 35, 57, 58, 142, 140, 141, 7.
III. Such as he composed at the beginning of his reign, and
after the death of Saul, sixteen — which are the 2d, 9, 24, 68, 101,
29, 20, 21, 28, 39, 40, 41, 6, 51, 32, 33.
IV. Others written by David, during the rebellion of Absalom,
amounting to eight— these are the 3d, 4th, 55, 62, 70, 71, 143, 145.
V. From the death of Absalom to the captivity, ten ; of which
David was the author of only three: the 18th, 30th, and 72d.
This last was written upon the establishment of his son Solomon on
the throne, and was probably the last of which he was the author.
VI. The Psalms composed during the captivity, which amount
to forty, were chiefly by the descendants of Asaph and Korah.
VII. Those of joy and thanksgiving, for the permission obtained
from Cyrus to return to Jerusalem, and to rebuild the temple, as
well as those composed for its dedication, fifty-one,
So that, according to this account, David was author of no more
than forty-five of the hundred and fifty Psalms that are usually
attributed to him.
As to the instruments mentioned by the severaf Psalmists, they
are chiefly such as have already occurred in the Bible, concerning
(<*) The English translators have followed the Hebrew distribution of the Psalms, by dividing
the gth Psalm into two ; so that from that to the ii4th our numbers differ from those of the Roman
Catholics, who have followed the Greek of the Septuagint, which has made but one Psalm of the oth
and loth. The Hebrew text likewise, and the English version, differ in the same manner from the
Septuagint and Vulgate, by dividing what they call the usth Psalm into two, which are the «4th
and iisth in our Psalter ; so that our n6th Psalm is only their ii4th. Here, however, they approxi-
mate again, and only differ by one number till the 146th, after which all parties agree.
200
HISTORY OF HEBREW MUSIC
the names of which, specimens have repeatedly been given in the
notes of the chapter, to shew the disagreement of translators.
However, as almost all the Hebrew instruments are enumerated in
the last Psalm, I shall here insert six different translations of the
third, fourth, and fifth verses, to shew, once for all, that there is no
dependence upon any one of "them, or hope that these points can
ever be cleared up.
Psal. cl. ver. 3, 4, 5. " Praise him in the sound of the trumpet,
praise him upon the lute and harp.
" Praise him in the cymbals and dances, praise him upon the
strings and pipe.
" Praise him upon the well-tuned cymbals, praise him upon the
loud cymbals."
Latin version of the Hebrew. Laudate eum in clangor e buccinae :
laudate eum in nebel et cithara : laudate eum in tympano et chorp :
laudate eum in chordis et organo : laudate eum in cymbalis auditis :
laudate eum in cymbalis ovationis.
Targum paraph. Chad. Laudate eum clangore buccina —
psalteriis et citharis — tympanis et choris — tibiis et organis —
cymbalis.
Syr. Laudate eum voce comu — citharis ac lyris — tympanis et
sistris — chordis jucundis — cymbalis sonoris — voce et clamore.
Vulg. Laudate eum in sono tubae — in psalterio et cithara —
tympano et choro — in chordis et organo — in cymbalis benesonanti-
bus — in cymbalis jubilationis.
Arab. Sonitu buccina — psalterio et cithara — tympano et sistro
— chordis et organo — ftdibus dulcisonis — instruments psalmodice.
The Septuagint agrees with the English version, except in "the
word lute, which is rendered vaftfa, nablon.
If the least ray of hope remain, that a true idea of Jewish instru-
ments can ever be acquired, it must be from the arch of Titus at
Rome, where it is supposed that the spoils brought by that emperor
from Jerusalem, have been exactly represented in sculpture. Among
these are several musical instruments, particularly the silver
trumpets, called by the Hebrews chatzotzeroth ; and horns,
supposed to resemble the shawms, mentioned so often in the
Scripture, called in Hebrew, keranim, or sacerdotal trumpets.
But the arch upon which these instruments are sculptured,
though, according to Venuti, of excellent workmanship, was not
erected till after the death of Titus ; and, to say the truth, the
instruments are of no uncommon form. The trumpets are long,
strait tubes, as modern trumpets would be, if not folded up, for the
convenience of the player ; and the horns are such as frequently
occur in ancient sculpture. Examples of both may be seen in
Blanchini, Bartholinus, Montfaucon, Padre Martini, and all the
writers upon ancient music ; as well as in plate IV. No. 6 and 8,
and plate V. and VI. of this work, engraved after original drawings,
from Titus's arch, from Trajan's pillar, and bas-reliefs of still
more ancient sculpture.
201
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Of the Titles Prefixed to the Bible Psalms
Not only many of the fathers of the church, and commentators
of the Psalms, but the Jews themselves, are so perplexed to find
a meaning to these titles, that they are obliged to confess their
utter ignorance and inability to expound them. However, some of
the most learned and respectable interpreters of the sacred writings
were of opinion, that as several of these titles were found in the
ancient Hebrew manuscripts, they must have been of divine
authority, and coeval with the Psalms themselves. They believed
likewise, that each was a key to the true sense and intention of the
poem, and therefore should be inviolably retained, and studied with
all possible care and veneration. St. Theodoret, who was learned
in the Hebrew tongue, has proved, that these titles were not
interpolations of the Septuagint interpreters, but that they found
them in the original, which is come down to us from Ezra, to whose
care the collecting the sacred writings is said to have been due.
It is as difficult, however, now, to determine which of these
titles are genuine, as to explain their true meaning ; for many
have been added since the Septuagint translation was made, and
some since the time of the fathers. The 90th Psalm, for instance,
has none in the Hebrew ; nor was there one in the Septuagint
during the time of Eusebius and Theodoret ; and yet there is one
now in the Septuagint, and in the Vulgate.
Don Calmet, and before him Flaminius, frankly declare, that
they are utterly unable to expound, or interpret, the titles of some
of the Psalms. All the information that can be acquired from the
rabbins on the subject is, that they suspect most of the terms which
are involved in so much darkness, were the names of instruments,
or of the melodies, which the Levites sung to these hymns in the
temple. And this has determined many translators to preserve
these words in the original Hebrew language, without attempting
to give equivalents to them in any other. And it was the opinion
even of several of the fathers, as well as of the most learned rabbins,
that there was no hope of discovering the meaning of some of these
words, as the ancient Hebrew music was then absolutely lost ; so
that neither the instruments they used, nor the force of the other
words in the titles, which may relate to the melody or measure, can
be divined.
Genebrard is of the same opinion. He says, the Hebrew words
in the titles of the Psalms, are generally terms of the ancient
Hebrew music, at present unknown to us : and that they served as
keys for. the tones in which the several canticles were sung.
However, maister William Tindale, one of the first translators
of the Bible into -English, had more courage, if not more learning
and sagacity than other expounders ; for he boldly tells us that
Neginoth, used in the title to the 4th, 54th, 55th, 61st, 67th, and
76th Psalms, signifieth the tune, or note of the instrumentes,
wherafter the Psalmes before whyche it is prefyxed were songe
202
HISTORY OF HEBREW MUSIC
For the Psalmes were songe at certen instrumentes, but so that the
swete tune and instrument prepared the mynde more perfectly to
receyue the worde of the holy Dictie.
This should seem something like the present custom of giving
out a psalm-tune upon the organ, in our parish churches.
The same expounder informs us, that the Hebrew word Nehiloth,
used in the title to Psalm 5, signifyeth, by interpretation,
beretrages*, or, as some wyll, a certen instrumente of musicke.
Psaim vi. Sheminith — This worde signifyeth an eight, or an
instrumente of musicke that hathe eight stringes.
Psalm viii. To the chief musician upon Gitith. After some this
worde signifyeth, an instrumente of musicke.
Psalm xvi. Michtam of David. Heaneth nobilitie, or honour o]
chivalrie, or an instrumente of musicke.
Psalm xxii. Aijeleth Shahar. A certen instrumente of musicke,
or as some wyll, a certayn kind of melodie ; divers authours do
diver sly expound it, &c. (e).
\
Lamnatzeach
Most of the modern commentators join the rabbins in thinking,
that Lamnaizeach implies, to the music master, or chief of the
band ; to the principal of the Levites who sung in the temple.
The Hebrew word Mnatzeach is used for the overseer, or
superintendant of any body of workmen; to preside over, or conduct
a band of. singing men and singing women, or performers upon
instruments.
In the J ewish temple, a great number of Levites were employed
wholly in singing, and playing upon instruments. All the Levitical
families either filled these offices, or others about the temple. Each
family had a president, or chief, who had a great number of
officers under his direction. A list of these has been already given :
the principal were, Asaph, Heman, Ethan, and Jeduthun. Asaph,
and his brethren, not only sung these divine canticles, but composed
others themselves. For we are informed that they were prophets
and inspired, as well as excellent musicians. Every band, there-
fore, in the service of the temple, was distinguished from the rest,
by the instruments upon which they played ; and a performer of
distinguished abilities was placed at the head of each. This leader
was called Mnatzeach. Cheneniah is highly extolled in Chronicles
for the power and sweetness of his voice ; he was the president,
or master of melody, and led off the canticles.
In the Bible Psalms, the title of the fourth Psalm runs thus:
" To the chief musician on Neginoth." Tindale's title of this same
Psalm is, " To the C haunter in Neginoth: " which in his notes he
expounds as follows: " The which is here translated, to the
(e) This Bible was printed in black letter, 1549.
it This is a mistake. In the edition of the Bible referred to (first ed. of Edmund Becke's Bible,
1549) the word is heritages.
203
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
chaunter, is in Hebrue Lamnatzeach, which word after Esra and
David Kimki (expositoures in Hebrue) signifyeth to the chief of
the syngars, whom we commonly cal in Englishe, the father of the
quyre or chaunter. This interpretation also do boeth the moste
number, and the best lerned of the Latinistes, best alowe."
Dr. WaUis defines Lamnatzeach, magistro symphonic, aut
prafecto musiccs (ft. And he thinks that some of the other titles
were intended to point out the kind of music, or instruments, which
the particular Psalms require ; but as both the Hebrew music and
instruments are now lost, he confesses that it is difficult to expound
these words.
Selah
This term occurs no less than seventy times in the Hebrew text
of the Psalms, and formerly it must have been used there still
more frequently, as we find it in several places of the Septuagint,
where the Hebrew has it not. It is, like other literary stumbling-
blocks, grown bigger by time. The commentators have most of
them given it up as an opake expression, upon which they are
utterly unable to throw a single ray of light ; and Don Calmet,
among the rest, after a great display of erudition, in giving the
several clashing opinions of rabbins, fathers, translators, and com-
mentators, concerning the true import of this impenetrable word,
and carrying us through the land of conjecture upon his great
polemical horse, sets us down just where he took us up : for,
thinking it impossible 'to get at the true meaning of the word, he
inclines to suppose it of so little consequence,, that it may well be
omitted, without injuring the sense of the text (g). If it had,
however, any meaning, it seems to have been that which the
Septuagint has given to it, by rendering it diayalpa, a pause in
singing, which must frequently have been wanted before the Psalms
were divided into verses.* The word Selah indeed occurs three
times in the third chapter of the prophet Habakkuk ; but the
connexion between poetry, music, and prophesy, has been already
shewn ; and there can be no doubt that Habakkuk uttered his
revelations in song ; for he begins this chapter, by calling it a
prayer upon Sigionoth, which lie Bible expounds in the margin,
" according to the variable songs or tunes, called in Hebrew
Shigionoth ; " and ends, by addressing it "to the chief singer on
my stringed instruments," or Neginoth.
The reign of Solomon, so long, so pacific, and so glorious to
the Hebrews, may be regarded as the Augustan age of that people ;
(/) De Psalmorum Tifalis, p. 298.
(g) M. Fourmont, Mem. de Litt. torn. iv. has not only discovered that the Psalms, and other
pieces of Hebrew poetry, are in rhyme, but that Sela had the same force in Hebrew Music, as bis, or a
double bar pointed, has in modem Christian music. This perspicacious critic-, with equal sagacity, has
found out, that in order to make matters even in the versification, in which he unwillingly allows the
lines to be of different lengths, the Hebrews sung their poetry in Fugue /
* In a translation of Bucer's Psalms (1530) : " This worde Selah signifyeth ye sentence before
to be pond'red with a deep affecte, longe to be rested upon and the voyce there to be exalted." (Murray,
English Dictionary.)
204
HISTORY OF HEBREW MUSIC
whose prosperity, during this period, not only enabled them to
cultivate arts and sciences among themselves, but stimulated
foreigners to visit and assist them. And as we find that the
Romans, during the time of Augustus, and his successors, were
indebted to the Greeks for a great part of their knowledge in the
polite arts, so the Hebrews, under Solomon's government, had
assistance from Egypt and from Tyre. Riches and renown never
fail to attract talents into a country 'from neighbouring kingdoms.
As to music and poetry, which were put upon so respectable a
footing in the former reign, they seem to have had their share of
attention in this ; particularly in the service of the temple, at the
dedication of which, if we may credit Josephus, " Solomon made
two hundred thousand trumpets, according to the ordinance of
Moses: (Moses was ordered to make two trumpets of silver only.
Numb. x. 2.) and forty thousand instruments of music (as if
trumpets were not instruments of music) to record and praise God
with, as the psaltery and harp of Electrum (h)," a mixed metal, of
which, according to Pliny, four parts were gold, and the fifth part
was silver. Josephus has often been accused of inaccuracy in other
things ; and with respect to music, his accounts neither bear the
marks of judgment nor fidelity ; but we have information from
much better authority, " That Solomon appointed, according to
the order of David his father, the courses of the priests to their
service, and the Levites to their charges, to praise and minister
before the priests, as the duty of every day required (t)."
It is the opinion of many expounders and commentators of the
sacred writings, that Solomon was author of some of the Psalms
that are attributed to David. Of this we are certain, that he was
no less fond of poetry than his father. In the first of Kings, iv. and
xxv. we are told that " he spake three thousand proverbs: and his
songs were a thousand and five." But whether, like the royal
Psalmist, he was a practical musician, does not appear in the
records of his reign. However, in Ecclesiastes, ii. 8. we find music
mentioned by this voluptuous prince among the vain luxuries and
vexations of spirit, with which he found himself satiated : " I gat me
men-singers and women-singers, and the delights of the sons of
men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts: " which is all
that can be gathered on the subject of music during this splendid
reign (ft).
A century passed from the dedication of the temple, without the
mention of any thing remarkable in Scripture concerning the music
of the Hebrews, except the passage already cited, where Elisba
calls for a minstrel to awaken inspiration, previous to his
prophesying.
In the year 896, B.C. the singers are said to have contributed
greatly towards obtaining a singular advantage in favour of
Jehoshaphat, over the Ammonites and Moabites ; the musicians
(h) Lib. 33, cap. 4. (*) 2 Chron. viii. 14.
(k) Solomon was made king during the life-time of his father, 10x5 B.C. and reigned forty years.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
following the camp in the same order as thev served in the temple,
marched as a vanguard in the field with their instruments: " And
the Levites of the children of the Kohathites, and the children of
the Korhites, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud
voice on high — And when Jehoshaphat had consulted with the
people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise
the beauty of holiness as they went out before the army, and to
say, Praise the Lord, for his mercy endureth for ever. And when
they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against
the children of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, which were come
against Judah, and they were smitten (I)."
The Hebrews frequently -attributed their success in battle to the
animation given the troops by the trumpets, which were always
blown by priests and Levites, whom the people highly reverenced,
and regarded as inspired persons.
" And behold, God himself is with us, for our captain, and
his priests with sounding trumpets, to cry alarm against you. —
And when Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and
behind, and they cried unto the Lord, and the priests sounded with
the trumpets. Then the men of Judah gave a shout ; and it
came to pass as the men of Judah shouted, that God smote their
enemies (m)."
It was, in like manner, the part of the ancient Gallic, German,
and British druids, who were not only priests, but musicians, to
animate their countrymen to the fight.
Thus far we have only had to speak of the cultivation and
improvement of music among the Hebrews ; we have little more
to add, except what will indicate its neglect and decline.
But few memorials remain concerning it, from the victory
obtained by Abijah, till the captivity and destruction of Jerusalem
and the temple, by the Babylonians, in the reign of Jehoiakim.
Before this period, music, and other sacred rites, had been
frequently much corrupted, during the wars, and by intercourse with
foreign nations ; and at every attempt to restore them to their
former purity and splendor, we find the number of those employed
in the service of the temple diminished, and their efforts more
feeble and ineffectual. At the restoration of the royal family, after
the crown had been usurped by Athaliah, we are told that " the
princes and trumpets stoo'd by the king: and afl the people of the
land rejoiced, and sounded with trumpets, also the singers with
instruments of music ; and such as taught to sing praise." And
Jehoiada, during the minority of Joash, " appointed the ofiices with
rejoicing, as it was ordained by David."— 878 B.C.— And in this
reign we find that " the singers, the sons of Asaph," were restored
to their places.
These continued, ^however, but a short time in the ministry,
before they were driven out, and the king and people became
proselytes to another form of worship. But after various revolutions
(J) * Ottoo. xx. 19. (m] 3 Chioo. xiii. i*.
30$
HISTORY OF HEBREW MUSIC
both in religion and government, a powerful attempt was made,
during the reign of Hezekiah, about 726 years B.C. to restore the
temple to all its ancient splendor.
' ' And he set the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals,
with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of
David. — And the Levites stood with the instruments ot David, and
the priests with the trumpets. — But the priests were too few " to
g^rform all the ceremonies formerly solemnized in the temple,
owever, " there was now great joy in Jerusalem ; for since the
time of Solomon, there was not the like in Jerusalem (n)."
But this happy period was of short continuance ; new schisms
and new misfortunes soon put an end to it. And in the year 606,
B.C. the Hebrew nation was subdued ; the temple plundered and
destroyed ; and, soon after, both King and people were, by
Nebuchadnezzar, sent captives to Babylon.
During the seventy years captivity, it is natural to suppose that
the Hebrews were denied the celebration of their religious rites ;
nor could they have much time, or inclination, for domestic amuse-
ments or festivity ; so that music, the child of leisure and happiness,
and parent of innocent pleasure, must have been neglected, and
shut out of their houses, as an unwelcome guest. The idea of
everything that awakened recollection of former felicity, must have
been painful in a state of slavery. " By the waters of Babylon we
sat down and wept : when we remembered thee, 0 Sion. As for
our harps we hanged them up, upon the trees that are therein. For
they that led us away captives, required of us then a song, and
melody in our heaviness : Sing us one of the songs of Sion. How
shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee,
O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning (o)."
These are the natural sentiments and feelings of a people but
lately fallen from a state of prosperity and happiness, into that of
bondage and misery.
It is reasonable to imagine, however, that a nation so prone to
luxury and magnificence as that of their masters, the Chaldeans,
would, like dther eastern nations, encourage every thing that con-
tributed to the gratification of the senses. And we find, during
this early period, from the accounts which the prophets Ezekiel
and Daniel have transmitted to us, that the most vivid colours were
displayed to the sight, in the vestments and paintings, and the most
grateful and flattering sounds conveyed to the ear, by means of
voices and instruments.
There are two instances in Ezekiel of painting having made
some progress among the Chaldeans, before Greece was rendered
illustrious by the works of any great master in that art. Chap. iv.
1. we -have the following passage: " Thou also, son of man, take
thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray .upon it the city
Jerusalem." And chap, xxiii. 14. the same prophet, in accusing
his nation of inconstancy in religion, says: " For when she saw
(n) 3 Chron. TCXI*. 25. (°) ?&&& crocvfi.
207
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
men pourtrayed upon a wall, the images of the Chaldeans
pourtrayed with vermilion, girded with girdles upon their loins,
exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads ; all of them princes to
look to, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land
of their nativity: she doated upon them."— 595 B. C.
A well known passage in Daniel puts it likewise out of all doubt
that music was cultivated, and brought to a considerable degree of
.perfection among them, if we may judge by the number and variety
of the instruments mentioned in it, of which the names of two
occur now, for the first time in the sacred writings.
" Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose
height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits —
Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people,
nations and languages, that at what time ye hear the sound of the
cornet, flute, harp, sacbut, psaltery, dulcimer (p), and all kinds of
music, ye fall down and worship the golden image which
Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set us." Dan. ch. iii.
But to return to the unfortunate Hebrews:— At the end of the
captivity, 536 B. C. an effort was made, by permission of Cyrus, to
rebuild the temple, restore it to its former grandeur, and to
re-establish its worship upon the ancient footing. But when the
number of " the singers, the children of Asaph," was taken, it
amounted to no more than a hundred and twenty-eight, and with
their assistants, out of fifty thousand people, they could only muster
" two hundred singing men and singing women; " among whom the
instrumental performers must have been included, as no mention
is made of them among the other Levites and servants of the temple.
Indeed, though the Jews from this period, till the destruction
of the Temple by Titus Vespasian, and their total dispersion,
continued to be a distinct nation, they were not only tributary, by
turns, to the Persians, the Egyptians, the Syrians, and the Romans,
but incessantly torn by intestine sects and factions, whose inveterate
rancour never subsided in the midst of the most imminent dangers
from a common and foreign foe ; a calamity peculiar to this wretched
people! who thus contributed more to their own destruction, than
all tiie efforts of their most determined and powerful enemies.
Though there is no condition so abject, or bodily labour so
oppressive to the spirits, if the mind is undisturbed, but music
will burst through, and soothe ; yet it is not among the turbulent
and unhappy that we must seek the arts of peace, and consequences
of that contentment, which arises from public and private felicity.
During the civil wars of Rome, no science was improved but
that of destruction: and at home, in more modem times, during
the struggles of York and Lancaster, and of the royalists and
republicans, or the religious massacres of France, what else was in
meditation, except rapine, rage, revenge, and slaughter! But, the
(p) So various have been the conjectures of commentators concerning the sacbut and psaltery, as
not furnished names for them. These learned expounders seem to advance opinions merely* to
confute them ; and after carrying the reader into a sea of trouble, leave him without sail or rudder to
get out as well as he can. '
208
HISTORY OF HEBREW MUSIC
temple of Janus once shut, what strides did not mankind make
towards that degree of perfection of which they are capable, in the
reigns of Augustus, of Leo the tenth, of Louis the fourteenth, and
of our own Charles the second! Nay, keep but the enemy at a
distance, with union at home, and even war will not stop the
progress of the human mind; since the brightest constellation of men
of genius, that ever enlightened our own country, confessedly
appeared in the reign of queen Anne, when we supported with
dignity a long and glorious war on the continent.
A few words will suffice to remind the reader of the deplorable
situation of the Jews, when they had lost their liberty and
independence.
After remaining seventy years at Babylon, in a state of slavery,
at the expiration of that time, though Cyrus, the Persian monarch,
treated them with mildness, suffered them to return to their native
country, and even contributed himself towards the 'rebuilding of
their city and temple, yet they continued a tributary province to
that empire, till the year 320 B. C. when the city was taken and
plundered by Ptolemy, one of Alexander's captains, who carried
captive into Egypt a hundred thousand of its inhabitants. From
that time, till 170, they continued to be oppressed and plundered .
by the kings of Egypt and Syria by turns, when Antiochus
Epiphanes, the sovereign of Syria, took the city by storm, stripped
the temple, slaughtered upwards of forty thousand people, and sold
as many more for slaves.
Soon after this period the brave family of the Maccabees began
to exert uncommon prowess and abilities in attempts to recover their
country's long lost independency ; but the powers with which they
had to contend were so superior in strength and resources, that
nothing but a constant succession of miraculous efforts, and
unexpected events, could keep the conflict alive, and protract their
misery, merely by postponing destruction, more than a hundred
years. At length, this heroic family, still more distressed, and
persecuted by their own countrymen, than by the common enemy,
sunk under the pressure of accumulated woes ; when the Jews,
seeing the extensive power of the Romans over almost every part
of the globe then known, called in Pompey to their assistance,
against Antiochus ; who, after draining their public treasures and
private purses, by the bribes and contributions, which he extorted
from them, became their open foe; and in the year 63 B. C. besieged
and took Jerusalem, whicE, with all Judea, remained ever after
dependent on the tyranny and oppression of the Roman government.
For more than twenty years after this event, the Jews were
under the jurisdiction of the Roman governors of Syria and Egypt ;
but, in the year 40 B. C. Herod, by taking a journey to Rome, and
by flattering and bribing Mark Anthony, during the triumvirate,
had the address to acquire from the "Roman senate the nominal
dignity of king of the Jews. His long reign was one continued
tissue of crimes that are shocking to humanity ; the least of which
was stripping his people of all their most valuable possessions, to
Voi,. i. 14 2°9
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
satiate the inordinate rapacity of his tyrant masters at Rome. But
Herod, finding money insufficient for this purpose, had recourse to
a species of adulation unknown before in his own country: for,
in the year 26 B.C. in order to ingratiate himself with Augustus,
he instituted public games, in honour of that emperor, after the
Pagan manner ; a measure so repugnant to the Mosaic laws, and
customs of the Jews, that, instead of affording them pleasure, they
were regarded with the utmost horror and detestation.
We have an account of Josephus both of these games and others,
instituted by this prince, seven years before the nativity, but in so
slight and imperfect a manner, that all we can learn is, that besides
wrestlers, gladiators, wild beasts, &c. the most skilful musicians
were invited from all parts of the world to perform at them.
However, as these exhibitions were manifestly in imitation of the
public games of Greece, it is natural to suppose that the musicians
were chiefly from that country, and from Alexandria, in Egypt,
where arts and sciences were then much cultivated and cherished
by the Ptolemies. The Jewish musicians, who were all among the
priesthood, certainly neither could nor would assist at these
contests: so that whatever glory may have been derived to the
victors, the Jews were entitled to no share of it, either as a nation
or as individuals. Indeed little could be acquired by conquests, to
winch no native of Judea could aspire, without offending against the
religion, laws, usages, and public opinion of his country.
The sequel of the Jewish history from this period, to the total
dispersion of the nation, seventy-three years after the birth of our
Saviour, is too generally known to render the extension of this
summary necessary. And with respect to music, the particular
subject of my enquiries, the little mention made of it -in the New
Testament is but just sufficient to authorize its use in the church,
where its establishment and progress will be traced hereafter. I
should therefore terminate the account of ancient Hebrew music
in this place, but that it seems necessary to add a few remarks
upon some passages in the book of Job, of which the chronology
is so doubtful, that I was unable to determine where, in the course
of my narrative, to give them a place.
This venerable book has been supposed by many of the fathers
to be the production of Moses: by some it is called the most ancient
book in the world ; the first Arabian regular history ; the oldest
poetical composition in a dramatic form : and as to the time when
Job flourished, great pains have been taken to shew the probability
of its being but little later than that of Abraham. The language
too in which it was originally written, has given birth to many
different opinions: whether Syriac, Chaldaic, Hebrew, or Egyptian.
But the bishop of Gloucester is of opinion that it was the work of
Ezra (q). Now as the Bible chronology places Job 1,520 years
before Christ, and Ezra but 457, this opinion occasions a difference
of near eleven hundred years: however, the prophet Ezekiel, chap.
210
HISTORY OF HEBREW MUSIC
14, mentions Job twice, after Noah and Daniel (r) : and chronolc
fix the time when Ezekiel flourished, near one hundred and
years before Ezra.
However doubtful it may be who was the author of the book
of Job, or when it was written, it is very certain that music is
frequently mentioned in it, as an art in general use.
" They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children
dance ; they take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound
of the organ," xxi. 11, 12. "My harp also is tuned to mourning,
and my organ to the voice of them that weep." xxx, 31. (s).
This seems to allude to funereal music : and of the use that was
made of music at the funerals of the Jews, we have a proof in
Matthew, ix. 23. "While he spake these things unto them, there
came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is
even now dead ; but come and lay thy hand on her, and she shall
live. — And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the
minstrels (t), and the people making a noise, he said unto them,
Give place, for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth."
Besides the use of flutes in funeral ceremonies, a female was
hired to weep, whence the title of chief mourner. The rabbin
Maimonides tells us, c. 14, sect. 23, that "The husband, upon the
death of a wife, was obliged to provide mourners to weep at her
funeral, according to the custom of the country. — That the poorest
persons among the Israelites, never engaged less than two flutes and
one mourner ; and, if rich, the expence and pomp of the ceremony
was proportioned to the dignity of the husband." This account is
confirmed by the Talmud, which orders that " The poorest among
the Israelites should never at the funeral of a wife engage less than
two flutes and one mourner («)."
Josephus tells us that the pomp and expence of funerals among
the Jews were carried to a ruinous excess, 1. iii. c. 9. The number
of flute players who led the procession amounting sometimes to
several hundred : and guests were invited, not only among their
relations, but friends and neighbours, for thirty days successively,
in order to attend those solemnities.
As early even as the death of Jacob, funeral rites were splendid,
and of long duration. His son Joseph, "With all his brethren, with
all the servants of Pharaoh, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,
attended this funeral, which lasted, with a great and very sore
lamentation, for seven days." Gen, L. And we find, that the
Egyptians mourned for this patriarch threescore and ten days.
(r) " Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it (the land) they should deliver
but their own souls, by their righteousness, saith the Lord God."
(s) One circumstance is necessary to be remembered with respect to the word organ, used here,
and frequently in the Psalms, which is, that the term was taken from the Greek translation ; but the
ancient Greeks had no particular musical instrument called an organ, for bpyavov, with them, was a
general name for an instrument, a work, or an implement of any kind : hence 6pyavt*o?, instrumental ;
op-yap iroto, an instrument maker ; and opyaiwroua, the fabrication of an instrument. And in all the
Greek musical theorists, organic is a general term applied to instrumental music.
(t) Heb. Vulg. Syr. Arab. Tibicines. Persic, flentes. ^Ethiopia Lamentatoices.
(w) In CMkulbotn cap. 4. sect. 6. aptid Spencer.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The Ncenia, or dirge, which David composed on the death of
Saul and Jonathan, is imagined by the commentators to have been
sung at the funeral of those princes.
Thus, at the decease of Josiah, " All Judah and Jerusalem
mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and all
the singing men and singing women spake of Josiah m their
lamentations unto this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel
(*).-
All that has hitherto been collected relative to the music of the
Hebrews, only shews that it was in general use among them, from
the time of their quitting Egypt, till they ceased to be a nation ; but
what kind of music it was with which they were so much delighted,
no means are now left to determine. That they had their first
music and instruments, whatever they were, from the Egyptians,
appears to admit of no doubt ; but these seemed to have remained
in a very rude state till the reigns of David and Solomon, when,
perhaps, they were more improved in quantity than quality ; for
the great number of Levites, of singing men and singing women,
as well as of trumpets, shawms, cornets, sacbuts, cymbals, and
timbrels, could only augment the noisy cry of joy, or the clamour
of petition.
For if the Hebrew language had originally no vowels, it must
have been very unfavourable to music (3;): and after the
introduction of vowel points, the many strong aspirates used instead
of the clear and open vowels of other languages, must have
corrupted sound, which, by the difficulty of producing it from such
harsh words, would, of necessity, be very coarse and noisy. The
music of the ancient Hebrews must, therefore, have been rough,
not only from their language, but musical instruments, chiefly of
percussion ; from the number of performers, amounting by the
order of David to four thousand, and, according to Josephus, at
the dedication of Solomon's temple, to two hundred thousand ; and
from the manner of singing at present in the synagogues, of which
the chorus is composed of clamour and jargon. These circumstances
must, therefore, have escaped those who have highly extolled the
ancient Hebrew music, or they must have been utterly ignorant of
the art of singing.
However, we have no authentic account of any nation, except
the Egyptians, where music had been cultivated so early as the
days of David and Solomon, the brightest period of the Jewish
history, the Greeks at that time having hardly invented their rudest
instruments : for Homer and Hesiod, the refiners, if not the
f-3.
J -• - - .
/ (*) a Chron. rxxv. 24.
y (y) This supposition must appear very strange without the support of authority ; for it seems
impossible for any language to subsist without vowels. " The Hebrew alphabet," says the author of
the Encyclopedie, Art. HEBRAIQUS, " is composed of twenty-two letters, all regarded as consonants,
without excepting even the aleph, ke, van, and /of, which we call vowels, hut which among the Hebrews
have no fixed sound or power, without punctuation ; for that alone contains the true vowels of this
language." Now as points are generally allowed to be of modern invention, if, in times anterior to
their use, it was doubtful to which of the consonants the power of a vowel was given, or, indeed,
whether any such power existed, the language must have been very harsh and unmusical : which is all
that is intended to be said on the subject
HISTORY OF HEBREW MUSIC
inventors, of Greek poetry ; and Orpheus, Musseus, and Linus, to
whom they attribute the invention of their music and instruments,
all flourished, according to Sir Isaac Newton, after these Hebrew
monarchs.
Basnage says "the Jews had nothing to distinguish them from
other nations: they wholly applied themselves to till the ground,
and feed their flocks ; but neglected the study of arts and sciences.
Whereas the Egyptians, under whose bondage they groaned, had
wit, learning, and ingenuity, and pretended to an origin of much
higher antiquity (*)." But this writer should have expected music.
Sculpture and painting were, indeed, utterly precluded by the
Mosaic law, which was so rigid against that idolatry, to which all
other nations were then addicted. But it was, perhaps, by this
idolatry, and by the frequent representations of those divinities,
with which the temples and houses of the Greeks were filled, that
they acquired their excellence in those arts.
Neither the ancient Jews, nor the modern, have ever had
characters peculiar to music ; so that the melodies used in their
religious ceremonies, have, at all times, been traditional, and at the
mercy of the singers. The Canonico Cavalca of Florence, is,
however, of opinion, that the points of the Hebrew language were
at first musical characters : and this conjecture has been confirmed
by a learned Jew, whom I have consulted on that subject, who says
that the points still serve two purposes: in reading the prophets
they merely mark accentuation, but, in singing them, they regulate
the melody, not only as to long and short, but high and low notes.
With respect to the modern Jewish music, I have been informed
by a Hebrew high priest, that all instrumental, and even vocal
performances, have been banished the synagogue ever since the
destruction of Jerusalem : that the little singing now used there is
an innovation, and a modern licence ; for the Jews, from a passage
in one of the prophets, think it unlawful, or at least unfit, to sing
or rejoice before the coming of the Messiah, till when they are
bound to mourn and repent in silence: but the only Jews now
on the globe, who have a regular musical establishment in their
synagogue, are the Germans, who sing in parts ; and these preserve
some old melodies, or species of chants, which are thought to be
very ancient. At Prague they have an organ. The same priest
says that, being at Petersburg some years since, the grand caliph
of Persia was there likewise on an embassy, and had the service
of his religion regularly performed in a kind of mosque fitted up in
the Czar's palace for his use. That when he first heard this service
performed, he found the singing so like that in the German
synagogues, that he thought it had been done in derision of the Jews,
and on that account soon left it. But, upon enquiry, finding it to
be nothing more than the manner of singing common in Persia, he
concluded that the Persians had borrowed this kind of chant from
the ancient Oriental Jews. At present, he says, they sing it first
HisL des Jmfs, 1. i. c. i.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
single, and then add parts to it, in a kind of chorus, like the
German Jews.
Padre Martini has inserted from the Estro-Poetico-Armonico of
Marcello, 1724, and from an inedited MS. by the cavaglier Ercole
Bottrigari, called II Trimerone de' Fondamenti Armonici, 1599, a
great number of such Hebrew chants as were sung in the synagogues
of different parts of Europe, at the time when these works were
composed. But as no two Jewish congregations sing, these chants
alike, if tradition has been faithful in handing them down from the
ancient Hebrews to any one synagogue, who shall determine to
which such permanence can be attributed?
I shall, however, select a few of them to gratify the curiosity
of my readers, without a hope of their being either edified or
delighted by such music. The notes are to be read from right to
left, after the manner of the Hebrew language ; and in those chants
which are printed in Gregorian notes, it is to be observed, that the
square characters are long, and those in the lozenge form, short.
THE HISTORY
OF GREEK MUSIC
Chapter I
Of Music in Qreece during the Residence
of Pagan Divinities, of the first
Order, upon Earth
THERE are no human transactions upon record, however
ancient, in which a love for music does not appear. For,
as the first musicians were also poets, philosophers, and
historians, no fragments of ancient poetry, philosophy, or history,
can be found, without some vestiges of the passion which mankind
had for music, at the time when they were written.
" It is well known, that the origin of every people, empire, and
kingdom, in prophane history, is involved in darkness, which no
human light can penetrate: so that the fables to which national
vanity has given birth, and the poetical fictions with which they
have been embellished, are all the materials which high antiquity
has left us to work upon.
However, as the fables of ancient historians, and the wild
imaginations of mythologists, have employed the sagacity of the
wisest and most respectable writers of modern times, to digest into
system, and to construe into something rational and probable, I
shall not wholly neglect them, but, with the assistance of such
guides, shall travel through the dark labyrinth of remote antiquity,
with all possible expedition.
It has already been observed (a) that the Theogony of the
Egyptians is, in some measure, connected with my subject: and
(«) See p. 172.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
that of the Greeks, from their passion for arts and sciences in
general, will appear to be still more so; for there are very few of
their divinities who have not been regarded as inventors or pro-
tectors of music (6). But as Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Cicero,
and many other of the most venerable writers of antiquity, have
spoken of their divinities as mere human beings, who, having
while they resided on earth, either taught mankind the necessary
arts of life, or done them some other important service, were
deified after death, and regarded as protectors of those arts which
they had invented when living, as well as of their professors, I
shall likewise venture to humanize them (c) : and if they are only
supposed to have been powerful and benign terrestrial princes, we
may strip their history of the marvellous, and imagine mankind
under their reigns, emerging from ignorance and barbarism by
natural and slow degrees, in much the same manner, and without
the interposition of miraculous assistance, as every other people
have since done, who have arrived at wealth and power, and have
afterwards had leisure to attend to luxury and refinement.
Diodorus Siculus tells us, that according to the mythology of
the Cretans, most of the Gods of the Greeks were born upon
their island, especially those that have acquired divine honours
by the benefits they have conferred on mankind : however, as to the
existence of these personages, the whole is doubtful now. New
systems of mythology are but a series of new conjectures, as
difficult to ascertain and believe as the old legends. And as these
legends have been long received by the wisest men, and greatest
writers of antiquity, and are at least as probable as the hypotheses
of modern mythologists, I shall adhere to them, not only as being
more amusing and ingenious than fancied analogies and
etymologies, drawn from Phoenician and Hebrew roots by Bochart,
the Abb6 de la Pluche, and others; but, because the minds of most
readers will have accommodated themselves by long habit to classic
(&) The bestowing these inventions upon their divinities by the Pagans, is abundantly sufficient,
says the bishop of Gloucester, to prove their high antiquity ; for the ancients gave nothing to the Gods,
of whose original they had any records ; but where the memory of the invention was lost, as of seed,
com, wine, writing, music, &c. then the Gods seized the property, by that kind of right, which gives
strays to the lord of the manor. Div. Leg. vol. iii.
(c) Pope has admirably described the origin of these first deifications.
Twas virtue only, or in arts or arms,
Diffusing blessings, or averting harms,
The same which in a sire the sons obey'd,
A prince the father of a people made. —
On him, their second providence, they hung,
Their law his eye, their oracle his tongue.
He from the wond'ring furrow call'd the food,
Taught to command the fire, controul the flood,
Draw forth the monsters of th* abyss profound.
Or fetch th' aerial eagle to the ground.
Essay on Man, Ep. iii.
'216
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
opinions, imbibed during their tender years of education and
credulity (d).
• Sir Isaac Newton tells us from Herodotus (e) that " the
Phoenicians who came with Cadmus brought many doctrines into
Greece; for among those Phoenicians were a sort of men called
Curetes, who were skilled in the arts and sciences of Phoenicia,
above other men, and (/) settled some in Phrygia, where they
were called Corybantes*, some in Crete, where they were called
I dm dactyli; some in Rhodes, where they were called Telchines;
some in Samothrace where they were called Cabin, &c. — And by
the assistance of these artificers, Cadmus found out gold in the
mountain Pangaeus in Thrace, and copper at Thebes; whence
copper ore is still called Cadmla. Where they settled they
wrought first in copper, till iron was invented, and then in iron;
and when they had made themselves armour, they danced in it at
the sacrifices with tumult and clamour, and bells, and pipes, and
drums, and swords, with which they struck upon one another's
armour, in musical times, appearing seized with a divine fury;
and this is reckoned the original of music in Greece (g)."
(d) The bishop of Gloucester has a passage so replete with wit, humour, and satire, that I shall
make no apology for inserting it at full length. In speaking of I'Histoire du Cut, by de la Pluche, he
asks, " on what, then, is this author's paradox supported ? On the common foundation of most
modern philologic systems, Etymologies ; which, like fungus excrescences, spring up from old Hebrew
roots, mythologically cultivated. To be let into this new method of improving barren sense, we are
to understand, that in the ancient Oriental tongues, the few primitive words must needs bear many
different significations, and the numerous derivatives be infinitely equivocal. Hence any thing may
be made of Greek proper names, by turning them to Oriental sounds, so as to suit every system, past,
present, and to come. To render this familiar to the reader, by example, M. Pluche's system is, that
the Gentile Gods came from agriculture : all he wants, then, is to pick out (consonant to the Greek
proper names) Hebrew words which signify a plough, tillage, or ears of corn ; and so his business is done.
Another comes, let it be Fourmont, and he brings news that the Greek Gods were Moses or Abraham,
and the same ductile sounds produce from the same primitive words, a chief, a leader, or a true believer ;
and then, to use his words, Nier ou'il s'agisse id du seul Abraham, c'cst tire aveugte ff esprit, <$• d*un
aveuglement irremediable. A third and fourth appear upon the scene, suppose them Le Clerc and
Banier ; who, prompted by the learned Bochart, say that the Greek Gods were only Phoenician
voyagers ; and then, from the same ready sources, flow navigation, ships, and negotiators ; and when
any one is at a loss in this game of crambo, which can never happen but by being duller than ordinary,
the kindred dialects of the Chaldee and Arabic lie always ready to make up deficiences. To give an
instance of all this in the case of poor distressed Osiris, whom hostile critics have driven from his
family and friends, and reduced to a mere vagabond upon earth, M. Pluche derives his name from
Ochos'ierets, domains de la Terre ; M. Fourmont from HoscJieiri, habitant de Seir, the dwelling of Esau,
who is his Osiris. And Vossius from Scliicker or Sior, one of the Scripture names for the Nile. I have
heard of an old humourist, and great dealer in etymologies, who boasted That he not only knew whence
words came, but whither they were going. And indeed, on any system-maker's telling me his scheme, I
will undertake to shew whither all his old words are going ; for in strict propriety of speech, they cannot
be said to be coming from, but going to, some old Hebrew root. There are certain follies, of which this
seems to be in the number, whose ridicule strikes so strongly, that it is felt even by those who are
most subject to commit them. Who that has read M. Huet's Demonstrate Evangelica, would have
expected to have seen him satirise with so much spirit the very nonsense with which his own learned
book abounds ? Le veritable usage de la connoissance des langues etanl perdu, I'abus y a succtdi. On
s'en est servi pour etymologiser ; on veut trouver dans FHebrett et ses dialecies la source de tons les mots,
et de toutes les langues, pour barbare et etranges qu'elles puissent Sire. Se pres&ite t-il un nom de quelque
roi d'Ecosse, ou de Norvege ; on se met aux champs avec ses conjectures ; onenva chercher rorigine dans
la Palestine. A-t-on de la peine a Py rencontrer ? On passe en Babylone. Ne s'y trouve-t-il point;
PArabie n'est pas loin : et en besoin mime, on pousseroit jusqu'en Ethiopie, plutot que de se trouver court
f etymologies ; et Von bat tant de pais, qu'il est impossible enfin qu'on ne trouve un mot qui ait welque
convenance de lettres et de sons avec celui dont on cherche rorigine. Par cet art on trouve dans I'Hebreu
ou ses dialectes, I'origine des noms du roi Artur, et de tous les chevaliers de la table ronde ; de Charlemagne,
et des douze pairs de France ; et m&me en un besoin, de tous les Yncas de Perou. Par cet art, un Allemand,
que fai connu, prouvoit que Priam avoit && le m&ne qu' Abraham : et Mneas le m&me que Jonas."
Lettre au Bochart. Div. Leg. book iv. sect. 4
(«) Lib. v. c. 58.
(/) Strabo, lib. x. p. 464, 465, 466.
(g) So Solinus, Polyhist. c. xi. Studium Musicum inde captum cum Jdai dactyli modulos crepito &
tinnitu arts deprehensos in versisicum ordinem transtulissent ; & Isiodorus, originxim, 1. xi. c. 6.
Studium Musicum ab idais dactylis Captum,
217
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
" Clemens Alexandrinus calls the Idaei Dactyli, barbarous, that
is strangers; and says that they were reputed the first wise men,
to whom both the letters which they call Ephesian, and the
invention of musical Rhythms are referred (h). It seems, that when
the Phoenician letters, ascribed to Cadmus, were brought into
Greece, they were at the same time brought into Phrygia and
Crete, by the Curetes, who settled in those countries, and called
them Ephesian, from the city Ephesus, where they were first
taught (*).''
CADMUS is a name much celebrated by antiquity. According
to Fabricius there were three persons so called, who flourished at
very different periods. The eldest, and the most renowned, is
Cadmus, the son of Agenor, king of Phoenicia; who being sent
by his father into Greece, in search of his sister Europa, whom
Jupiter had stolen away, brought with him sixteen letters, and the
art of making brass (K). Archbishop Usher, the authors of the
Universal History, and Dr. Blair, agree in placing this event in
the time of Joshua, that is, 1450 years before Christ; though
Sir Isaac Newton and Dr. Priestly allow Cadmus to have flourished
but 1045 years before the Christian MTQ.. Sir Isaac imagines
that the emigration of the Phoenicians and Syrians was occasioned
by the conquests of David, " These people," says he (Z), " fleeing
from Sidon and from David, come under the conduct of Cadmus,
and other captains, into Asia Minor, Crete, Greece, and Lybia,
and introduce letters, music, poetry, metals, and their fabrication,
and other arts, sciences, and customs of the Phoenicians. This
happened about one hundred and forty years before the Trojan
War. It was about the sixteenth year of David's reign that Cadmus
fled from Sidon. At his first coming into Greece, he sailed to
Rhodes, and thence to Samothrace, an island near Thrace, on the
north side of Lemnos, and there married Harmonia, the sister of
lasius and Dardanus, which gave occasion to the Samothracian
mysteries (m)."
I shall not enter upon a long discussion concerning HARMONIA,
of whom, though many ancient authors make her a princess, of
divine origin (»), there is a passage in Athenaeus from Euhemerus
the Vanini of his time, which tells us, that she was by profession,
a player on the flute, and in the service of the prince of Sidon,
previous to her departure with Cadmus. This circumstance,
however, might encourage a belief, that, as Cadmus brought letters
into Greece, his wife brought Harmony thither, as the word
aepovta, Harmonia, has been said to have no other derivation
than from her name (o); which makes it very difficult to ascertain
a typographical 6xrory though it is not among the errata.
(*) Strom.LL (fc) Tacit. L ii. e. 14, and Plin. vii. 56.
(2) ChronoL p. 13. (m) Ib. p. 131.
AtlM According to Died. Sic. L 5, she was daughter of Jupiter and Electra, and grand-daughter of
(o)
2lS
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
the sense annexed to it by the Greeks in their music; for it has
no roots by which it can be decompounded, in order to deduce it
from its etymology.
This derivation is given by some to Plato, in whose works,
however, I have not been able to find it ; but there is a passage in
the Phcedon of that author, in which he evidently gives his sanction
to the common etymology of the word, that is given by lexico-
graphers, and generally adopted by the learned ; who deduce it
from aepo£a), which is derived from the old verb, &QQI, astro), to fit,
to join (p). And yet, as the flute upon which Harmonia played was
a single instrument, capable of melody only, and as she was said
to be ^the first who performed upon that instrument in Greece, the
inhabitants of that country perhaps called by her name the art
which she had introduced among them, as the metal which her
husband invented received his name. Agenor, the father of
Cadmus, was an Egyptian ; and Cadmus is said by many ancient
writers to have received his education in Egypt. Harmonia may
likewise have come from that country ; however, her wild flute has
never been said to have furnished the Greeks with their musical
scale ; but there is nothing more extraordinary in a barbarous people
having music without a gamut, than language without an alphabet.
Diodorus Siculus (q)t has given a very circumstantial account of
the wedding of Cadmus and Harmonia in Samothrace, at which all
the Pagan divinities were present ; and tells us, that this was the
first hymenaeal festival which the Gods deigned to honour with
their presence. " Ceres, who was tenderly attached to Jasion, the
brother of the bride, presented corn to the new married couple ;
Mercury, brought his lyre ; Minerva, her famous buckler, her veil,
and her flute ; Electra, the mother of the bride, celebrated there
the mysteries of Cybele, the mother of the Gods, and had the orgies
danced to the sounds of drums and cymbals. Apollo afterwards
played on the lyre, the Muses accompanied him with their flutes,
and all the other divinities ratified their nuptials with acclamations
of joy." This seems to be the outline of a dramatic representation,
which was perhaps exhibited by the priests at some festival, or
mystical celebration, in order to commemorate the wedding of
Cadmus and Harmonia.
No ancient authors dispute letters and arts having been brought
out of Phoenicia by Cadmus, and the Idaei Dactyli ; but Diodorus
Siculus is not of opinion that Cadmus invented the letters which he
brought into Greece, or that the Grecians had no letters before his
arrival. He rather supposes that Cadmus introduced a new
alphabet amongst them, which they prefixed to the ancient Pelasgian
characters, that had been in use long before. However that may
have been, many great inventions are attributed to the people of
Phoenicia, a province of Syria, best known in the Hebrew authors
of Scripture by the name of Canaan. Bochart, with incredible
0 Plato's words are the foUowing: 7; "APMONIA aoparov n bra 'HPM02MENHI \vpa
cap. «6,
a.v,
219
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
labour, has endeavoured to prove, that they have sent colonies,
and left vestiges of their language, in almost all the islands of the
Mediterranean. They first opened the commerce of the British
isles. Some moderns, indeed, give this honour to the Greeks ;
but, besides the uncertainty of the Greeks ever having been there,
Strabo says, in express terms, that the Phoenicians began this trade,
and carried it on alone, without rivals, which destroys all conjecture
to the contrary.
Lucan (r) has celebrated their invention of letters in verses that
have been often translated and paraphrased.
Phcenices primi, fam& si creditur, ausi
Mansuram rudibus vocem signare figuris.
Phoenicians first, if ancient fame be true,
The sacred mystery of letters knew ;
They first by sound in various lines designed,
Express'd the meaning of the thinking mind ;
The power of words by figures rude convey 'd,
And useful science everlasting made. ROWE.
C'est de lui (s) que nous vient cet art ingenieux,
De peindre la parole et de parler aux yeux,
Et par les traits divers de figures tracees,
Donner de la couleur, et du corps aux pensees. BREBEUF.
The noble art from Cadmus took its rise,
Of painting words, and speaking to the eyes :
He first in wond'rous magic fetters bound
The airy voice, and stopt the flying sound ;
The various figures by his pencil wrought,
Gave colour and a body to the thought.
Hon. Miss MOLESWORTH.
Cadmus appears to have been cotemporary with the Cretan
Jupiter, from the fable, which makes him carry away his sister
Europa from Sidon, in the shape of a bull, by which the expounders
sailed together. The Phoenicians, upon their first coming into
Greece, gave the name oijao-paler, Jupiter, to every king, as every
Egyptian monarch was called Pharaoh, and Roman emperor
Caesar ; and thus both Minos and his father were Jupiters. But
though Cadmus and his companions were called Idaei Dactyli, and
Curetes, they seem not to have been the first who came into Greece ;
for both Strabo and Diodorus Siculus tell us that " the Curetes,
who introduced music, poetry, dancing, and arts, and attended on
the sacrifices, were no less active about religious institutions ; and
for their skill, knowledge, and mystical practices, were accounted
wise men and conjurers by the vulgar ; that these, when Jupiter was
born, in Crete, were appointed by his mother Rhea, to the nursing
(r) Lib. in.
(s) Cadmus.
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
and tuition of him in a cave of mount Ida, where they danced about
him in armour, with great noise, that his father Saturn might not
hear him cry (£). And when he was grown up, these assisted him
in his conquests, were appointed his priests, and instituted mysteries,
in memory of the share which they had in his education."
This wild story, collected from all the best prose writers of
Greece, is told by Sir Isaac Newton in his Chronology. It served
his purpose, in support of his chronological hypothesis ; and it is
quoted here, in order to shew the simple state which music was in
at its first introduction into Greece. No instruments are mentioned
to have been used by the Idaei Dactyli, who attended Jupiter in
Crete, but drums and cymbals, instruments of percussion, which
affording but one tone, require little art in the player, or knowledge
in the hearer (u).
These represent the armed priests, who strove
To drown the tender cries of infant Jove ;
By dancing quick they made a greater sound,
And beat their armour as they danc'd around. CREECH.
But Virgil applies this rude and artless music to a less noble
purpose than quieting the infant Jupiter in his cradle (#).
Now listen, while the wond'rous powers I sing,
And genius giv'n to bees, by Heav'n's almighty king,
Whom, in the Cretan cave, they kindly fed,
By cymbal's sound, and clashing armour led. WARTON.
Aristotle has thought it worth recording, that Archytas of
Tarentum, the famous mathematician, invented a rattle for children;
and Perrault says, if we consider the music of the ancients accord-
ing to the idea which the early writers give us of it, we shall find
it to have been a kind of noise suitable to the infancy of the world,
as the first instruments were certainly little better than rattles, or
corals, fit only for children.
And, indeed, the Phoenicians may be said to have brought into
Greece Time, rather than Tune : but Rhythm is of such consequence
both to poetry and to music, that this was no inconsiderable
present.
As the first music mentioned in the Grecian history, is that of
the Idcei Dactyli, after the birth of Jupiter, which consisted of a
rhythmical clash of swordSj as modern inorice-dancers delight in
the clash of staves; it is not unnatural to suppose, when this
prince was grown up, had conquered his enemies, and was
(f) There is something so peculiarly disgusting in the quarrels between Jupiter and his father
that I have purposely refrained from mentioning them.
(«*) Dictceos referunt Curetas : qui Jovis ilium
Vagtown In Crete quondam occultasse feruntur ;
Cum pueri circum puerum pernice chorea,
Artnaii in nttmerum pulsarent arflnts ara. — Lucret. 1. ii. v. 633.
{x) Nunc age, naturas aptous quas Jupiter ipse
Addidit, expediam : pro qua mercede, canoros
Ouretum sonitus crepvtontiaqite ara secttta,
JDictao c&h rf$em ptwere sub antro. — Georg. 1. iv. v. 149.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
peaceably established on his throne, that arts and sciences were
cultivated and rendered flourishing, particularly music, through
the skill and influence of Apollo, and his other sons; and this
perhaps was found to be the most effectual means of taming and
polishing a rude and savage people.
Minerva
Among the Dii majorum gentium, some of the female divinties
laid claim to a share in musical discoveries. Of this number was
Minerva, or Pallas, the daughter of Jupiter, who is sometimes
called Musica, or the musician, a name she acquired from her
statue made by Demetrius, in which, when the serpents of the
Gorgon were struck, they resounded like a lute (y). She is also
honoured with the invention of chariots, together with having first
used trumpets, and invented the flute (z). The vouchers for her
musical talents are Pausanias, Plutarch, and Fulgentius, among
the prose writers; and Pindar, Nonnus, Ovid, Hyginus, Propertius,
and Claudian, among the poets. The flute that she invented, is
said by Ovid to have been made of box (a), and by Hyginus of
bone (6).
-- Foramina rara, with few holes, it is natural to suppose. Indeed
the Syrinx, see plate IV. No. 6, said to have 'been invented by
Pan, was found inconvenient. It consisted of a number of pipes
of different lengths, tied together, or fastened by wax, which were
played on, according to Lucretius (c), by blowing in them one
after the other, moving the instrument sideways, for the admission
of wind into the several tubes; and it was by the sagacity and
penetration of Minerva, that it was found practicable to produce
the same variety of tones with a single pipe, by means of ventiges
or holes, which had the effect of lengthening or shortening the
tube, by a quick alteration of the column of air which was forced
through it.
Two other circumstances are related of Minerva with respect to
the flute; she is said by Hyginus to have found herself laughed
at by her mother and sister, Juno and Venus, whenever she
played the flute in their presence : this suggested to her the thought
of examining herself in a fountain, which serving as a mirror,
convinced her that she had been justly derided for the distortion
of her countenance, occasioned by swelling her cheeks in the act
of blowing the flute. This is one reason given for her throwing
(y) Banicr, torn. iL p. 308. («) Ib. 309.
(a) Prima terebrato per rara foramina buxo,
Ut daret, effect, tibia longa sonos. — Fast. 1. vi.
By met at first the boIlowM box was found,
When pierc'd. to give variety of sound. f Minerva speaks.
(6) Minerva tibias^dicitur prima ex osse cenrinofecisu.
(c) Et supra, caiamos unco percurrere labro.
With carving lip run swiftly o'er the reeds.
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
aside that instrument, and adopting the lyre (d). However, a
better cause, and one more worthy of her wisdom, is assigned for
her throwing aside the flute, upon seeing Apollo perform on the
lyre; for by having his mouth at liberty, she found that it enabled
him to sing at the same time as he played, which afforded an
opportunity of joining instruction to pleasure.
There is nothing improbable or puerile in these accounts. Indeed
many of the ancient fables and allegories are so ingenious, and
conceal so delicate a moral, that it would discover a taste truly
Gothic and barbarous, to condemn, or reject them. Of such as
these must our history consist, during the dark ages of antiquity,
which furnish few authentic materials : for as yet we have no other
records to consult, than those of poets and mythologists.
Having traced the use of the instruments of percussion as high
as the birth of Jupiter, and shewn that the ancient Greeks attributed
the origin of wind instruments to Minerva, it now remains to speak
of the third species of instruments, the tones of which are
produced by strings; and among these, the first in order and
celebrity is the lyre, of which the invention is given, both by the
Egyptians and Greeks, to Mercury. Of the Egyptian Mercury
ample mention has been already made, in speaking of the music
of that country : it now remains to give some account of the Hermes
of Greece.
Mercury
Most of the actions and inventions of the Egyptian Mercury,
have likewise been ascribed to the Grecian, who was said to be
the son of Jupiter and Maia, the daughter of Atlas. No one of
all the heathen divinities had so many functions allotted to him
as this God: he had constant employment both day and night,
having been the common minister and messenger of the whole
Pantheon, particularly of his father, Jupiter, whom he served
with indefatigable labour, and sometimes, indeed, in a capacity of
no very honourable kind. Lucian is very pleasant upon the
number and variety of his vocations; yet, according to the con-
fession of emperor Julian, Mercury was no hero, but rather one
who inspired mankind with wit, learning, and the ornamental arts
of life, than with courage (e). The pious emperor, however, omits
some of his attributes; for this God was not only the patron of
trade, but also of theft and fraud.
Amphion is said, by Pausanias (/), to have been the first that
erected an altar to this God, who, in return, invested him with
such extraordinary powers of music (and masomy), as to enable
him to fortify the city of Thebes in Boeotia, by the mere sound
of his lyre.
(d) Plutarch. Delracohib.
(e) 'Epjuiq? fie TO. owenarcpa paXXoy, 17 ToX^porepa. Jip. 5. CyriL CotU. Jill.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Horace gives us the best part of his character (g).
Thou god of wit from Atlas sprung,
Who by persuasive power of tongue,
And graceful exercise, refin'd
The savage race of human kind,
Hail, winged messenger of Jove,
And all th' immortal pow'rs above.
Sweet parent of the bending lyre,
Thy praise shall all its sounds inspire.
Artful and cunning to conceal
Whatever in sportive theft you steal,
When from the God who gilds the pole,
E'en yet a boy, his herds you stole;
With angiy voice the threatening pow'r
Bad thee thy fraudful prey restore,
But of his quiver too beguiTd,
Pleas'd with the theft, Apollo smil'd.
You were the wealthy Priam's guide,
When safe from Agammemnon's pride,
Through hostile camps, which round him spread
Their watchful fires, his way he sped.
Unspotted spirits you consign
To blissful seats and joys divine,
And, powerful with thy golden wand,
The light unbodied crowd command;
Thus grateful does thy office prove
To Gods below, and Gods above.
FRANCIS.
This Ode contains the substance of a very long hymn to
Mercury, attributed to Homer. Almost all the ancient poets relate the
manner in which the Grecian Mercury discovered the lyre ; and
tell us that it was an instrument with seven strings ; a circumstance
which makes it essentially different from that said to have been
invented by the Egyptian Mercury, which had but three. However
there have been many claimants besides Mercury to the seven
stringed lyre, of which there will be occasion to speak hereafter ;
all that seems necessary to be added here is, that the great number
of different musicians, to whom the same inventions ha.ve been
given in Greece, is but a proof that instruments resembling each
other in form and properties, may have had many inventors. A
syrinx, or Fistula Panis, made of reeds tied together, exactly
resembling that of the ancients, has been lately found to be in
common use in the island of New Amsterdam, in the South Seas, as
flutes and drums have been in Otaheite and New Zealand; which
indisputably prove them to be instruments natural to every people
emerging from barbarism. They were first used by the Egyptians
and Greeks, during the infancy of the musical art among them ; and
(g) Od. x. Kb. i. Mercuri, facunde nepos Atlantis, &c.
224
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
they seem to nave been invented and practised at all times by
nations remote from each other, and between whom it is hardly
possible that there ever could have been the least intercourse or
communication.
The Greeks, however, when they deified a prince or hero of
their own country, usually had recourse to the Egyptian theogony
for a name, and with it adopted all the actions, attributes, and
rites of the original, which they generously bestowed upon their
new divinity. And not only the Greek and Roman poets, but
historians, speak of their Mercury as the inventor of music and the
lyre. Apollodorus, as related before, p. 200, is almost the only one
who lays the scene of this transaction in Egypt.*
Don Calmet, in his Dissertation on the Musical Instruments of
the Hebrews, has given us an account of this discovery from Homer's
hymn to Mercury, in which he translates ntyxTQov, plectrum, by
the French word archet, a bow, without citing a single authority for
it from ancient authors. What kind of implement the plectrum
was, will be discussed hereafter ; but it is most certain that the bow
now in use was utterly unknown to the ancients. Vincenzio
Galilei (K) has collected the various opinions of the several Greek
writers who have mentioned the invention of the chelys or testudo ;
and the late Mr. Spence has done the same in a very circumstantial,
but ludicrous manner (i).
The most ancient representations of this instrument agree very
well with the account of its invention : the lyre, in particular on the
old celestial globes, was represented as made of the entire shell of a
tortoise, and that of Amphion in the celebrated groupe of the Dirce,
or Torof in the Famese palace at Rome, which is of exquisite Greek
sculpture, and very high antiquity, is figured in the same manner.
I had a front and side view of this lyre drawn under my own eye,
and have since had them engraved for this work, Plate V. No. 1
and 2, in order to furnish the reader with an idea of the form given
to the instrument by ancient sculptors, upon the strength of this
legend.
Apollo.
There is something pleasing in the idea of realizing, or even of
finding the slightest foundation in history for the fables with which
we have been amused in our youth. I believe there are few of my
• (h) Dial, delta Musica Ant. 6 Mod.
(i) " Horace talks of Mercury as a wonderful musician and represents hfm with a lyre. There is a
ridiculous old legend relating to this invention, which informs us that Mercury, after stealing some
bulls from Apollo, retired to a secret grotto, which he used to frequent at the foot of a mountain, ii
Arcadia. Just as he was going in, he found a tortoise feeding at the entrance of his cave ; he killec
the poor creature, and, perhaps, eat the flesh of it ; as he was diverting himself with the shell, he was
mightily pleased with the noise it gave from its concave figure. He had possibly been cunning enougl
to find out that a thong pulled strait, and fastened at each end, when struck by the finger, made a sor
of musical sound. However that was, he went immediately to work, and cut several thongs out o:
the hides be had lately stolen, and fastened them as tight as he could to the shell of this tortoise
and, in playing with them, made a new kind of music with them to divert himself in his retreat. This
considered only as an account of the first invention of the lyre, is not altogether so unnatural" Poly-
met. Dial. viii. -
* The legend related by Apollodorus is not the Nile Legend but the one associated with Moun
-Kyllene. It is probable that Burney got his story from a corrupt version of Diodorus Siculus.
VOX,, i. 15 '22;
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
countrymen who have not, during childhood, read the Life of
Robinson Crusoe, and the Adventures of Lemuel Gulliver, as
authentic histories, and who have not relinquished that thought, in
riper years, with some degree of reluctance. It has, doubtless,
been the same with the ingenious fables of antiquity, so elegantly
told, and embellished with all the flowers of poetry, and warm
colouring of imagination.
Of all the divinities of Paganism, there was no one by whom
the polite arts were said to have been, in so particular a manner,
cherished and protected, as by Apollo ; who had a variety of names
given to him that were either derived from his principal attributes,
or the chief places where he was worshipped. ^He^was called the
Healer, from his enlivening warmth and chearing influence ; and
P&on, from the pestilential heats ; to signify the former, the ancients
placed the Graces in his right hand; and for the latter, a bow and
arrows in his left: Nomius, or the shepherd, from his fertilizing the
earth, and then sustaining the animal creation ; Delius, from his
rendering all things manifest ; Pythius, from his victory over
Python ; Lycias, Phcebus, and Phanes, from his purity and
splendor. As Apollo is almost always confounded by the Greeks
with the Sun, it is no wonder that he should be dignified with so
many attributes. It was natural for the most glorious visible object
in the universe, whose influence is felt by all creation, and seen by
every animated part of it, to be adored as the fountain of light, heat,
and life.
The emperor Julian, in his defence of Paganism, says, " It is
not without cause that mankind have been impressed with a religious
veneration for the sun and stars. As they must, at all times, have
observed that no change ever happened in celestial things ; that
they were subjected neither to augmentation nor diminution ; and
that their motion and laws were always equal, and proportioned
to their situation in the heavens. From this admirable order,
therefore, men have reasonably concluded that the Sun itself was
either a God, or the residence of some divinity (ft)."
The power of healing diseases being chiefly given by the ancients
to medicinal plants, and vegetable productions, it was natural to
exalt into a divinity the visible cause of their growth. Hence he
was styled the God of physic ; and that external heat which chears
and invigorates all nature, being transferred from the human body
to the mind, gave rise to the idea of all mental effervescence coming
from this God; hence, likewise, poets, prophets, and musicians,
are said to be Numine afflati, inspired by Apollo.
To the other perfections of this divinity, the poets have added
beauty, grace, and the art of captivating the ear and the heart, no
less by the sweetness of his eloquence, than by the melodious sounds
of his lyre. However, with all these accomplishments, he had not
the talent of captivating the fair, with whose charms he was
(*} Ap. S. Cyril, cont. Julian.
226
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
enamoured ; but we have nothing to do with his amours, nor with
the other adventures related of this God during his residence on
earth, which are indeed too numerous, and too well known to be
inserted here: however, such as concern his musical contests, in
which he was always victorious, seem too much connected with our
subject, to be wholly unnoticed.
To begin, therefore, with the dispute which he had with Pan,
that was left to the arbitration of Midas.
Pan, who thought he excelled in playing the flute, offered to
prove that it was an instrument superior to the lyre of Apollo.
The challenge was accepted, and Midas, who was appointed the
umpire in this contest, deciding in favour of Pan, was rewarded
by Apollo, according to the poets, with the ears of an ass, for
his stupidity. This fiction, which seems founded upon history,
must be explained.
Midas, according to Pausanias (2), was the son of Gordius and
Cybele, and reigned in the Greater Phrygia, as we learn from Strabo
(m). He was possessed of such great riches and such an inordinate
desire of increasing them by the most contemptible parsimony,
that, according to the poets, he converted whatever he touched
into gold. However, his talent for accumulation did not extend to
the acquirement of taste and knowledge in the fine arts; aiid,
perhaps, his dulness and inattention to these, provoked some musical
poet to invent the fable of his decision in favour of Pan against
Apollo. The scholiast upon Aristophanes, to explain the fiction
of his long ears, says that it was designed to intimate that he kept
spies in all parts of his dominions.
MARSYAS, another player on the flute, was still more unfortunate
than either Pan, or his admirer, Midas. I shall collect the history
of this personage, so celebrated by antiquity, chiefly from Diodorus
Siculus, and from M. Burette's notes to the Treatise of Music, by
Plutarch (n).
Marsyas was of Cekenae, a town in Phiygia, and son of Hyagnis,
who flourished, according to the Oxford Marbles, 1506 years before
Jesus Christ.
The Oxford Marbles (o) inform us, that HYAGNIS, a native
of Celsenae, the capital of Phiygia, and cotemporary with
Erichthonius, who instituted the Panathensean games at Athens,
1506 B.C. was the inventor of the Flute, and Phrygian mode; as
well as of the Nomes, or airs, that were sung to the mother of the
Gods, to Bacchus, to Pan, and to some other divinities and heroes
of that country. Plutarch (p) and Nonnus (q) both tell us that he
(Z) In Atticis.
(m) L. xiv. p. 680.
(n) Mem. de 1'Acad. des Inscrip. torn. x.
(o) Epoch 10, p. 160.
0>] De Musica.
($) Dionys. Kb. x.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
was the father of Marsyas; Athenaeus (r), from Aristoxenus, says
that he invented the Phrygian mode; and Apuleius (s) ascribes
to him not only the invention of the single flute, but of the
double (*).
The connection of Marsyas with Cybele, afterwards so cele-
brated as the mother of the Gods, makes it necessary to give some
account of her, before we proceed in the history of that unfortunate
musician.
The Phrygians, says Diodorus Siculus (u) affirm, that they had
formerly a king named Meon, who was likewise sovereign of
Lydia. " This king took to wife a princess of the name of Dindyma,
by whom he had a daughter. Enraged at the disappointment
of not having a son, he exposed her upon mount Cybele. However
the Gods permitted her to be suckled by wild beasts; which being
afterwards discovered by some shepherdesses in the neighbourhood,
they stole her from her savage nurses, and upon carrying her home
called her Cybele, from the name of the mountain where she had
been found. This child surpassed as she grew up all her com-
panions, not only in beauty, but wisdom and talents; for she
invented a flute, composed of many pipes, and was the first of
that country who introduced drums and cymbals into choruses.
" The chief of her friends was Marsyas, a man commendable
for his wisdom and temperance : he manifested great genius in the
invention of a flute, which, by means of holes, like that of Minerva,
expressed all the sounds of the several pipes, of which the syrinx
was composed; and his attachment to Cybele must have been of
a very pure and Platonic kind; for we are told that he preserved
his chastity to the last hour of his life.
" Cybele transported with love for a young man, named Atys,
who had been put to death by her parents, became insane, and
ran wildly up and down the country, beating the cymbals. Marsyas
taking pity of her misfortunes, and preserving his former friend-
ship for her, followed her in all her rambles, till she arrived at
Nysa, the residence, at that time, of Bacchus, or Osiris, where
they found Apollo, who had acquired great reputation by his
manner of playing the lyre. For it is said, that though Mercury
invented this instrument in the manner already related, he after-
wards gave it to Apollo, who was the firsf that played upon it
(r} Lib. xiv. c. 5, p. 624. Ed. Lndg.
(s) Florid lib. i. sect. 3.
(t) The double Flute, however, is more generally given to his son Marsyas. Julius Pollux,
lib. iv. cap 10, speaks of two kinds of single flute, the invention of which was attributed to
the Libyans: the Oblique Flute, irXa-ywwAos, so called, perhaps, from being blown at the side,
like the modern Fife, or German Flute; and a very shrill flute, made of laurel wood, after
the pith and bark were removed, that was used in breaking horses, wnro^oppos. The natives
of every quarter of the globe seem to have invented their own flutes; and if Hyagnis and his
son Marsyas furnished the Asiatics with those instruments, Africa may have had her's from
Libya, or its neighbouring country, Egypt.
(«*) Lib. ui. cap 10.
'£28
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
with method; and, by singing to it, made it the constant
companion of poetry (x)."
Marsyas having engaged in a musical dispute with Apollo, chose
the people of Nysa for judges. Apollo played at first a simple air
upon his instrument; but Marsyas taking up his pipe, struck the
audiences so much by the novelty of its tone, and the art of his
performance, that he seemed to be heard with more pleasure than
his rival. Having agreed upon a second trial of skill, it is said
that the performance of Apollo, by accompanying the lyre with
his voice, was allowed greatly to excel that of Marsyas upon the
flute alone, Marsyas, with indignation, protested against the
decision of his judges, urging, that he had not been fairly
vanquished according to the rules stipulated, because the dispute
was concerning the excellence of their several instruments, not their
voices; and that it was wholly unjust to employ two arts against
one.
Apollo denied that he had taken any unfair advantage of his
antagonist, since Marsyas had employed both his mouth and fingers
in performing upon his instrument; so that if he was denied the
use of his mouth, he would be still more disqualified for the
contention. The judges approved of Apollo's reasoning, and
ordered a third trial. Marsyas was again vanquished; and Apollo,
inflamed by the violence of the dispute, flead him alive for his
presumption.
Pausanias relates a circumstance concerning this contest, that
had been omitted by Diodorus, which is, that Apollo accepted the
challenge from Marsyas, upon condition that the victor should use
the vanquished as he pleased.
Diodorus informs us, that Apollo soon repenting of the cruelty
with which he had treated Marsyas, broke the strings of the lyre,
and by that means put a stop, for a time to any further progress
in the practice of that new instrument.
The next passage in this author being wholly applicable to the
history of ancient music, I shall transcribe it: " The Muses/' says
he, " afterwards added to this instrument the string called Mese;
Linus, that of Lichanos; and Orpheus and Thamyras, those strings
which are named Hypate and Parhypate/'
It has been already related, that the lyre invented by the
Egyptian Mercury had but three strings; and by putting these two
circumstances together, we may perhaps acquire some knowledge
of the progress of music, or, at least, of the extension of its scale,
in the highest antiquity.
(*) According to Homer's account of this transaction, in his hymn to Mercury, it was
given by that^God to Apollo, as a peace offering and indemnification for the oxen which, he had
To Phoebus Maia's son presents the lyre,
A gift intended to appease his ire;
The God receives it gladly, and essays
The novel instrument a thousand ways.
With dext'rous skill the plectrum wields, and sings
With voice accordant to the trembling strings
Such strains as Gods and men approv'd, from whence
The Sweet alliance sprung of sound and sense.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Mese, in the Greek music, is the fourth sound of the second
tetrachord of the great system, and first tetrachord invented by
the ancients, answering to our A, on the fifth line in the base. If
this sound then was added to the former three, it proves two
important points: first, that the most ancient tetrachord was that
from E in the base, to A; and that the three original strings in the
Mercurian and Apollonian lyre were tuned E, F, G, which the
Greeks called Hypate Meson, Parhypate Meson, and Meson
Diatonos. The addition therefore of Mese to these, completed the
first and most ancient tetrachord, E, F, G, A (z).
The string Lichanos then being added to these, and answering
to our D, on the third line in the base, extended the compass
downwards, and gave the ancient lyre a regular series of five
sounds, in the Dorian mode, the most ancient of all the Greek
modes; and the two strings called Hypate, and Parhypate,
corresponding with our B and C in the base, completed the
heptachord, or seven sounds, B, C, D, E, F, G, A, a compass that
received no addition, till after the time of Pindar, who calls the
instrument then in use, the seven-tongued lyre (a). But to return
to Apollo and Marsyas.*
It is natural to suppose that great provocation had been given
on both sides, previous to a trial of skill, big with such serious
consequences. And it appears from a passage in Apuleius, that
the champions had tried their strength at invective and sarcasm,
before the musical contest began. According to this writer,
Marsyas was so foolish as to irritate the God, by opposing his own
entangled hair, his frightful and shaggy beard, to the flowing locks,
the finical effeminacy, and dainty ^cleanliness of his rival; for
which he was hissed by all the Muses and company present (6).
It is difficult to acquire a true idea of the character of this
musician, as some ancient writers, in speaking of him, tell us that
he was a man of talents and wisdom, while others represent him
as an ignorant clown; just as Polonius, in our Shakespeare's
Hamlet, is in some scenes a wise man, and in others an idiot.
(*} Captain Norden says, the sepulchral urn on the first pyramid near Memphis, though it rest
intirely upon its base, sounds like a bell ; and Dr. Shaw believes the sound emitted to be E-la-m*.
Now if it be true that the Greeks had their first musical knowledge from Egypt, we may suppose this
sound to be the standard pitch, and fundamental note of the Mercurian lyre, and first tetrachord,
E,F,G,A.
(*) Though Pindar calls the Lyre seven-tongued, yet we are told that Pythagoras, who lived before
himj added an eighth string to that instrument. But, perhaps, this new string was not in general use,
'
j
in Pindar's
(6) Marsyas, quod stuUitia maximum specimen est. non intelligent se de ridicuh haberi, priusquam
tibias occiperet inflare, prius deseet Apolline quadam deliramenta barbate effutimt : laudans sese quod
erat et coma relitinus, et barba squalKdus, et pectore hirsvtus, et arte tibicen, et fortuna egenus, contra
ApoJUnem ridiculum didv, adoersis virtotibus culpabat. Quod ApoUn esset et coma intonsustet gents
&atus> et corpora glabettus, et arte mvttiscius, ft fortuna opulentus. - Risere Musee, cum audtrent hoc
genu* crimina. Apuleius Floridor. p. 341.
* This heptachord for the seven stringed lyre must not be confused with the original octave scale
of the Greeks. The Dorian tetrachord B, C, D, E is considered to have been the original tuning of the
four stringed lyre but it is not possible to prove the truth of this belief.
The original octave scale consisted of the two disjured tetrachords Meson and Diezeu&nenon.
Another early scale consisted of the two conjured tetrachords Meson and Synemmenon (i.e., E, F, G,
t. , . ^ M A A
. cit., p. 304) thinks it probable that
thus tuned, could be employed most
the strings were tuned to C, F, G, C, and remarks,
effectively for accompanying the voice.
230
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
Plato (c) tells us tihat we are indebted to Marsyas and Olympus
for wind-music; and to these two musicians is likewise attributed
the invention of the Phrygian and Lydian measure. Marsyas is
also said by some to have been the inventor of the double flute,
though others give it to his father Hyagnis.
Antiquity has furnished us with several monuments of the
punishment inflicted upon him by Apollo. He may be seen in
Berger, in Maffei, and in Du Choul. The story is likewise well
and fully represented in one of the ancient pictures dug out of
Herculaneum (d). Here the vanquished musician is bound to a
tree, the executioner standing by with a knife in his hand, only
waits for orders from the victor to slay him alive. Apollo is seated
at a distance, with a lyre in one hand, and a plectrum in the
other, and a Muse by his side, preparing a garland for him in
token of victory. A young man, on his knees, appears to implore
his mercy : this is thought to be Olympus, the scholar of Marsyas,
asking pardon for his master, or, perhaps, permission to give him
funeral obsequies, which, as we learn from Hyginus, he obtained.
OLYMPUS is a name spoken of with such reverence by the
greatest writers of Greece, as well as the best judges of music,
that is seems to merit particular notice.
There were two great musicians in antiquity of the name of
Olympus, and both celebrated performers on the flute. One of
them flourished before the Trojan war, and the other was
cotemporaiy with Midas, who died 697 B.C. The first was a
scholar of Marsyas, and a Mysian; the second, according to
Suidas, was a Phrygian, and author of several poems, which were
by some attributed to the first Olympus. But the most important
addition which the disciple of Marsyas made to the musical know-
ledge of his time, was the invention of the Enharmonic Genus,
as already described in the Dissertation. Plato and Aristotle, as
well as Plutarch, celebrate his musical and poetical talents, and
tell us that some of his airs were still subsisting in their time.
Religion only can give permanence to music. The airs of Olympus
used in the temple worship during the time of Plutarch, were not
more ancient than the Chants, or Canto Fermo, to some of the
hymns of the Romish church : and the melodies now sung to many
of the hymns and psalms of the Lutherans and Calvinists, are
such as were applied to them at the time of the Reformation.
Plato says the music of Olympus was, in a particular manner,
adapted to affect and animate the hearers (e)i Aristotle, that it
swelled the soul with enthusiasm (/); and Plutarch (g), that it
surpassed, in simplicity and effect, every other music then known.
According to this Biographer, he was author of the Cumle song,
which caused Alexander to seize his arms, when it was performed
to him by Antigenides. To his musical abilities he joined those
of poetry; and, according to Suidas, and Jul. Pollux, he composed
(c) De Legib. (d) Antich. d'Ercolano, torn, ii- too. 19.
(«) In Mince. In lone. De Legit, lib. iii. (/) Politic, lib.vm. rap. 5. (g) De Music*.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Elegies, and other plaintive songs, which were sung to the sound
of the flute; and the melodies of these poems were so much
celebrated in antiquity for their pathetic and plaintive cast, that
Aristophanes, in the beginning of his comedy called the Knights,
where he introduces the two generals, Demosthenes and Nicias,
travestied into valets, and complaining of their master., makes them
say, " Let us weep and wail like two Flutes, breathing some air
of Olympus." Plutarch ascribes to him several Nomes or Airs, that
are frequently mentioned by ancient writers : such as the Minerva;
the Harmatian, Curule, or Chariot air, just mentioned ; and the
Spondean, or Libation air.
There is a magnificent statue at Rome, where Marsyas, the
master of Olvmpus, is represented fastened to a tree, with his arms
extended. Others may be seen where Apollo holds a knife in his
right hand, and the skin of Marsyas in his left, which serves to
confirm the opinion, that some of the ancients thought Apollo was
himself the executioner that flead him. In some of the statues,
.Marsyas is sculptured with the ears and tail of fauns and satyrs;
of this kind is the figure in the grand duke's gallery at Florence.
There was anciently to be seen in the citadel at Athens, a statue of
Minerva chastising the satyr Marsyas, for appropriating to himself
the flutes which the goddess had rejected with contempt. These
flutes of Marsyas had been consecrated in the temple of Apollo at
Sicyon, by a shepherd who had collected them. At Mantinea, in
the temple of Latona, was also to be seen a Marsyas playing upon
the double flute: and he was not forgotten in the famous picture of
Polygnotus, described by Pausanias (ft).
Among the inventions of Marsyas is numbered likewise the
bandage made of leather thongs, used by the ancients in playing
the flute, in order to keep the cheeks and lips firm, and to prevent
the distortion of the countenance, so common in playing upon
wind-instruments. This contrivance, which left only a small
aperture between the lips, just sufficient to receive the mouth-piece
of the flute, augmented likewise the force of the performer (i).
Servius, the grammarian, asserts, that most free towns had in
the public places a statue of Marsyas, which was a symbol of their
liberty, because of the dose connection between Marsyas, taken for
Silenus, and Bacchus, known to the Romans by the name of Liber.
There was in the Forum at Rome one of those statues, with a
tribunal erected by it, where justice was administered.
However, notwithstanding the many testimonies of ancient
authors concerning Marsyas having been flead alive, among which
is that of Herodotus, who says he saw the skin of this unfortunate
musician hanging up at Celsenae, in the public square, in the form
of a bladder or foot-ball ; there are authors who take the whole
story to be an allegory, founded upon the river Maisya, which ran
(A) Lib* x. cap. 30.
(*) This bandage was called ^opScto, or -n-epto-ro/xtov, capistrum. .It is mentioned in
Plutarch's Symposiacs, in the Scholiast of Aristophanes, and elsewhere; and may be seen in some
ancient sculpture, wMcb ~ -- —
VI. No. z of this work.
232
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
through the city Celaenae, making a harsh and disagreeable noise to
the ear; or, rattier, if we may believe Fortunio Liceti (&), the fable
had its rise from this, that, before the invention of the lyre, the
flute was in higher favour than any other musical instrument, and
enriched all those who were able to play upon it ; and as the lyre
brought the flute into such discredit that nothing was to be gained
by it, Apollo was said to have stripped off the skin of Marsyas, the
best performer on the flute of his time ; which was the better
imagined, as the money of those days was of leather (J). The
punishment has frequently been inflicted in modern times upon
inferiority, not only by rival musicians of great talents, but by
fashion.*
The next incident to be mentioned in the history of Apollo is
his defeat of the serpent Python.
The waters of Deucalion's deluge (m}, says Ovid (n), which had
overflowed the earth, left a slime, from which sprung innumerable
monsters, and among others the serpent Python, which made great
havock in the country about Parnassus. Apollo, armed with his
darts, put him to death ; which, physically explained, implies that
the heat of the sun having dissipated the noxious steams, those
monsters soon disappeared ; or, if this fable be referred to history,
the serpent was a robber, who haunting the country about Delphos,
and very much infesting those who came thither to sacrifice, a
prince, who bore the name of Apollo, or one of the priests of that
God, put him to death.
This event gave rise to the institution of the Pythian games,
so frequently mentioned in the Grecian history. They were
celebrated at first once in eight or nine years ; but in process of time
were repeated every four [or five] years. Music and poetry were,
in a particular manner, subjects of contention in these games, which
were instituted in honour of that divinity, who was the immediate
patron and protector of those arts. And if, as Ovid informs us,
they owe their institution to Amphictyon, the son of Deucalion, soon
after the deluge, which bears the name of his father, they were the
most ancient of all the four great games of Greece : for Pausanias
tells us that the Olympic games were first celebrated by Clymenus,
a descendant of Hercules, fifty years after the deluge of Deucalion.
However, the same writer, who", in his travels through Greece, was
particularly solicitous to inform himself of every circumstance
relative to these institutions, tells us, that Diomedes, the son of
Tydeus, having escaped a dangerous tempest in returning from
Troy, dedicated a temple to Apollo, and founded the Pythian games
in his honour. After being discontinued for some time, they were
renewed by the brave Euiylochus of Thessaly, whose valour and
(fc) Aierog. cap. 109. (Q Pollux, lib. iv. cap. 10.
(m) This event happened, according to the Parian Marbles, and Dr. Blair, 1503 years before the
Christian &ra, though, according to Sir Isaac Newton, and Dr. Priestley, but 1046.
(n) Met. lib. i.
* The legend of Marsyas is dealt with very fully in Eraser's Adonis, Attis and Osiris (chapter vi).
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
exploits acquired him the name of the new Achilles. This renewal
of the Pythic games happened in the third year of the forty-eighth
Olympiad, 586 B.C. ; after which time they served as an sera to the
inhabitants of Delphos, and the neighbourhood.
These musical contests will be particularly discussed hereafter,
with the other games of Greece, when we have quitted the
mythological maze of fable and allegory, and are arrived at the
strait road of history.
It was from the legend of Apollo's victory over the Python,
that the God himself acquired the name of Pythius, and his priestess
that of Pythia. The city of Delphos, where the famous oracles
were so long delivered, was likewise frequently styled Pytho.
The decrees of this oracle were not only uttered in hexameter
verse, but, if we may believe Lucan, were sung (o).
And, according to Plutarch, in his discourse on the Pythian
Priestess no longer rendering her prophecies in verse, the ancient
oracles were not only delivered in verse, and in a pompous style,
but were sung likewise to the sound of the flute (p).
The same author likewise tells us that oracles were generally
delivered in verse, preceded by the sound of kettles ; which furnishes
no very exalted idea of the state of music in remote antiquity, any
more than what one of the interlocutors in his Dialogue on the
Pythia, says of her verses, does of poetry. "I have often wondered,"
said Diogenian> "at the meanness, and aukward roughness of the
verses, which conveyed the ancient oracles to mankind. And yet
Apollo is called the feader of the Muses, and God of poetry, as well
as of music; and therefore it seems natural to suppose, that he
would attend as much to elegance and beauty in the style and
language of poetry, as to the voice and manner of singing it." All
that Pagan piety could offer in defence of Apollo, was to say, that
the God only furnished inspiration with respect to the knowledge
of future events, but gave himself no trouble about the voice,
sounds, words, or metre, that this knowledge was delivered in, all
which proceeded from the priestess. And yet how the God of music
could bear the sounding brass, and worse than tinkling cymbals,
with which he was constantly stunned, is not easy to imagine.
In after-times the Pythia had in her ministry professed prophets;
and these had poets under them, whose business was to put the
orades into verse. However, poets had no such employment in
earlier times. Herodotus tells us, that Olen of Lycia was at once
both prophet and poet : the most ancient hymns known to have
been used at Delos, in honour of Apollo, were of his composition ;
and the Greeks acknowledge ham to have been the first
that applied poetry to the purpose of praising the Gods ;
(o) Siw canet/«fe»n, sett quodjubet itte canendo Fitfatum.
(£) Hutaich in this passage uses the term irXacyaa, for a florid modulation of voice, and
Qointflianlatimzes the^same word to express a soft and delicate modulation. Lib. i cap. 14. Nee
plasmate effemtnata ; which is a confirmation of poetry being always sung. See an excellent criticism
upon the term irAao-fia, Div. Leg. book iv. sect. 4.
234
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
indeed it seems as if hymns were the most ancient of all poetical
compositions (q).
Olen was the first priest of Apollo at Delos, in the temple
erected there to this God, by the northern people called
Hyperboreans. Who these Hyperboreans were, ancient authors are
not very well agreed. Diodorus Siculus calls them a people of Asia,
near the north, who inhabited a most fertile island, equal in size
to that of Sicily. This was the birth-place of Latona, the mother
of Apollo, on which account the islanders had a particular veneration
for her son. They were almost all priests of that God, and
continually singing hymns to his honour. They consecrated an
extensive territory to him upon the island, in the midst of which
was a magnificent temple, in an oval form, always abounding with
rich offerings. Their city was even consecrated to the God, and
filled with musicians of all kinds, who every day celebrated his
praises.
The particular worship of Apollo in that island, is supposed to
have originated from the arrival of the Egyptian conqueror,
Sesostris. The birth of a God in any country, says Herodotus,
denoted only the introduction of his worship there. Thus Jupiter
was said to have been born in Crete, and Apollo in Delos.
But to return to the oracle at Delphos. The most celebrated
of all the Pythias was Phoemonoe, who was not only the first priestess
of Apollo, but, according to Plutarch and Pausanias, the first who
pronounced oracles in hexameter verse.
In after-times there were five principal priests of sacrifice
appointed. They were called 60101, holy ; and whatever was
sacrificed at their reception was called ootwyQ, the victim. These
ministries were perpetual, and hereditary in their children. They
were believed to be descended from Deucalion. Besides a great
number of inferior priests, there were many players upon musical
instruments, and heralds, who proclaimed the public feasts, to
which, sometimes, all the inhabitants of Delphos were invited.
To these were joined chorusses of youths and virgins, who sung and
danced at the festivals of Apollo.
Plutarch, in his Dialogue on Music, tells us, that Philammon had
celebrated the birth of Latona, Apollo, and Diana, in lyric verses ;
and that he was the inventor of the dances that were used in the
temple of Apollo.
As Apollo was the God of the fine arts, those who cultivated
them were called his sons. Philammon of Delphos, who being a
great poet and musician, was reported to be the offspring of the
God who presided over those arts. He is one of the first, after
Apollo, upon fabulous record, as a vocal performer, who
(q) The rhetorician Menander enumerates eight different species of hymns. In this author, and
in the notes oi the learned Spanheim upon CaUimachus, it appears, that the most ancient of these
canticles were thought to have been dictated by the Gods themselves, or, at least, by men truly
inspired. Some of them received their names from the different divinities to whom they were addressed
and the occasions upon which thev were sung ; and to others were prefixed the names of the most
ancient poets, who had signalized themselves in this species of writing : such as Olen, Pamphus,
Thamyris, Orpheus, Anthes, and Homer. Burette's Notes on Plutarch.
Longimis, in a beautiful simile, compares the effects of reading the best ancient authors, to the
sacred vapours with which the Pythian priestess was inspired on the tripod.
335
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
accompanied himself .with the sound of the lyre ; his son was the
celebrated Thamyris. Tatian ranks Philammon among the writers
who flourish before the time of Homer ; and the scholiast of
Apollonius Rhodius, from Pherecydes, affirms, that it was this
musical poet, and not Orpheus, who accompanied the Argonauts
in their expedition. If this circumstance could be depended upon,
there would be no difficulty in fixing the time when he lived, as
the chronologists place this expedition in the century immediately
preceding the Trojan war.
There can be no doubt but that Apollo was more generally
revered in the Pagan world, than any other deity ; having in almost
every region of it, temples, oracles, and festivals, as innumerable
as his attributes : the wolf and hawk were consecrated to him, as
symbols of his piercing eyes ; the crow and the raven, because these
birds were supposed to have by instinct the faculty of prediction;
the laurel, from a persuasion that those who slept with some branches
of that tree under their heads, received certain vapours, which
enabled them to prophesy. The cock was consecrated to him,
because by his crowing he announces the .rising of the sun ; and the
grasshopper, on account of his singing faculty, which was supposed
to do honour to the God of Music. Most of the ancient poets have
celebrated this tuneful insect, but none better than Anacreon, Ode 43.
Plato says that the Grasshopper sings all summer without food,
like those men who, dedicating themselves to the Muses, forget the
common concerns of life.
The Swan was regarded by the ancients as a bird sacred to
Apollo in two capacities ; first, as being like the crow and raven,
gifted with the spirit of prediction (r) ; and, secondly, for his
extraordinary vocal powers. The sweetness of his song, especially
at the approach of death, was not only extolled by all the poets of
antiquity, but by historians, philosophers, and sages (s) ; and to
call a great writer the swan of his age and nation, was a full
acknowledgement of his sovereignty. Thus Horace calls Pindar,
the Theban swan (t). We do not, however, find that Jupiter, when
he assumed the figure of a swan, acquired the good graces of Leda
by his vocal powers.
The universality with which the talent of this bird for song was
allowed by antiquity, has furnished M. Morin with the subject of
a pleasant Dissertation upon this question. Why swans sung so
well formerly, and why they sing so ill, or rather why they have
wholly ceased to sing, now (u) ? The author asks if it is the want
of hearing music as they formerly did, on the banks of the Cayster
= (r) Commemorat (Socrates) ut cygnis, qui non sine causa ApoUini dicati sunt, sed quod ab co
dtwnationem habere videantur, qua pravidentes quid in morte boni sit ; cum canto et volu-btate moriantur -
Cicero TuscuL Quaest lib. t 59. ^ .
(s) Wi quidem (Cygni) quando se brevi sentvunt morituros, tune magis admodum dukius canunt,
quamantea consuevennt, confratulantes quod ad Deum sint, cujus erant famuli, jam migrate*. Sed
quta Pfuebo sacn sunt, ut vrbiiror, dtmnatione praditi, prasagiunt aUerius vita bona ; ideoque cantant
alacnus, gesbuntque ea die quam superiors tempore. Plato in Phadone, vel de Anima, p. 505.
(<) Dirceum levat aura cygnum. Lib. v. Ode 2. v. 25.
' «) Mem. de VAcad. des Inscrip. torn. v.
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
and Meander? But, if they had imitative powers, the concerts so
frequently performed on the Seine and the Thames, are surely
sufficient to provoke them to the exercise of those powers. Are they
degenerated in northern climates? This question is fully answered
by ^Slian (w), who asserts, that among the Hyperboreans, or
inhabitants of the most northern parts of the globe, who had a
celebrated temple to Apollo, at a solemn festival in honour of the
God, which was annually kept at a great expence, as soon as the
priest had begun the ceremony, by a procession, aspersions, and
lustrations, a large flock of swans instantly descended from the top
of Mount Riphseus and after having croaked and cackled in the
air round the temple, to make a kind of lustration, in their manner,
they entered the choir, and gravely took their places among the
priests and musicians, who were preparing to sing a sacred hymn
in honour of this festival ; after which they performed their parts
with the utmost precision, neither singing out of tune, nor breaking
time ; and when this was done, they retired in great order from the
temple.
" Here are swans for you," says M. Morin, "who sung psalms
in a northern climate, as weU as in Greece, in the presence of a whole
people, and an infinite number of spectators of all nations, who
were drawn together by the solemnity ; which shews, that,
according to the opinion of those times, swans always, and in every
place, retained the power and dignity of songsters, inseparable from
their kind. However, JElian confesses that he had the story from
tradition, having never been able to acquire any proof of their
musical powers from experience ; and that all he knew of ^ this
matter was, that the ancients held it as a certainty, that these birds,
before they died, sung a kind of air, which was on that account
called the swan's air."
Perhaps the idea of swans having the power of singing, was
originally suggested by the magnificent length of their necks, which
seem as capable of divisions, trills, and shakes, as any of our wind-
instruments. Lucian (x) is the ooly ancient writer who
has dared to doubt of the musical abilities of swans. He tells us,
with his usual pleasantry, that he tried to ascertain the fact, by
making a voyage on the coasts of Italy ; and relates, that being
arrived at the mouth of the Po, he and his friends had the curiosity
to sail up that river, in order to ask the watermen and
inhabitants concerning the tragical fate of Phaeton ; and to examine
the poplars, descendants of his sisters, whom they expected to shed
amber instead of tears ; as well as to see the swans represent the
friends of this unfortunate prince, and hear them sing lamentations
and sorrowful hymns, night and day, to his praise, as they used
to do, in the character of musicians, and favourites of Apollo, before
their change. However, these good people, who never had heard
of any such metamorphoses, freely confessed, that they had indeed
sometimes seen swans in the marshes near the river, and had heard
•107.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
them croak and scream in such a disagreeable manner, that crows
and jays would be sirens, compared with them, in a musical
capacity ; but that they had never even dreamed of swans singing
a single note that was pleasing, or fit to be heard.
But to return once more to Apollo. Plutarch, who was himself
a priest of that God, impressed with the highest respect and
veneration for him and for music, in his Dialogue upon that art,
makes one of his interlocutors say, that an invention so useful and
charming could never have been the work of man, but must have
originated from some God ; such as Apollo, the inventor of the
flute and lyre, improperly attributed to Hyagnis, Marsyas, Olympus,
and others ; and the proofs he urges in support of this assertion,
shew, if not its truth, at least that it was the common and received
opinion.
All dances and sacrifices, says he, used in honour of Apollo, are
performed to the sound of flutes : the statue of this God at Delos,
erected in the time of Hercules, had in its right hand a bow, and
on the left stood the three Graces, who were furnished with three
kinds of instruments : the lyre, the flute, and syrinx. The youth also,
who carries the laurel of Tempe to Delphos, is accompanied by one
? laying on the flute : and the sacred presents formerly sent to Delos
y the Hyperboreans, were conducted thither to the sound of lyres,
flutes, and shepherds' pipes. He supports these facts by the
testimonies of the poets Alcseus, Alcman, and the poetess Corinna.
It seems as if the account of Apollo could not be concluded by
anything that is left to offer on the subject, so properly, as by part
of the celebrated hymn of Callimachus, which during many ages
was performed and heard by the most polished people on the globe,
with the utmost religious zeal, at the festivals instituted to this God.
What has already been said may, perhaps, throw some light upon
this beautiful composition, which, in return, will explain and confirm
the reasons already assigned for the high veneration in which this
divinity was held by antiquity.
Hymn to Apollo
Hah! how the laurel, great APOLLO'S tree,
And all the cavern shakes ! far off, far off,
The man that is unhallow'd : for the God
Approaches. Hark! he knocks: the gates
Feel the glad impulse: and the fever'd bars
Submissive clink against their brazen portals,
Why do the Delian palms incline their boughs,
Self-mov'd: and hov'ring swans, their throats releas'd
From native silence, carol sounds harmonious?
Begin, young men, the hymn: let all your harps
Break their inglorious silence ; and the dance,
In mystic numbers trod, explain the music.
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
But first by ardent pray'r, and clear lustration
Purge the contagious spots of human weakness:
Impure no mortal can behold Apollo.
So may you flourish, favoured by the God,
In youth with happy nuptials, and in age
With silver hairs, and fair descent of children;
So lay foundations for aspiring cities,
And bless your spreading colonies' encrease.
Pay sacred reverence to Apollo's song;
Lest watchful the far-shooting God emit
His fatal arrows. Silent Nature stands;
And seas subside, obedient to the sound
Of lol lo Paean! nor dares Thetis
Longer bewail her lov'd Achilles' death:
For Phoebus was his foe. Nor must sad Niobe
In fruitless sorrow persevere, or weep
Even thro' the Phrygian marble. Hapless mother!
Whose fondness could compare her mortal offspring
To those which fair Latona bore to Jove,
lo ! again repeat ye, lo ! Paean !
Recite Apollo's praise till night draws on,
The ditty still unfinish'd ; and the day
Unequal to the Godhead's attributes
Various, and matter copious of your songs.
Sublime at Jove's right hand Apollo sits,
And thence distributes honour, gracious king,
And theme of verse perpetual. From his robe .
Flows light ineffable : his harp, his quiver,
And Lyctian bow, are gold: with golden sandals
His feet are shod. How rich ! how beautiful !
Beneath his steps the yellow min'ral rises;
And earth reveals her treasures. Youth and beauty
Eternal deck his cheek : from his fair head
Perfumes distil their sweets and chearful Health,
His duteous hand-maid, through the air improved
With lavish hand diffuses scents ambrosial.
The spearman's arm by thee, great God, directed,
Sends forth a certain wound. The laurel' d bard
Inspir'd by thee, composes verse immortal.
Taught by thy art divine, the sage physician
Eludes the urn, and chains, or exiles death.
Perpetual fires shine hallow' d on thy altars.
When annual the Carnean feast is held:
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The warlike Libyans, clad in armour, lead
The dance, with clanging swords and shields, they beat
The dreadful measure : in the chorus join
Their women, brown but beautiful ; such rites
To thee well pleasing.
The mon'strous Python
Durst tempt thy wrath in vain ; for dead he fell,
To thy great strength, and golden arms unequal.
To \ while thy unerring hand elanc'd
Another and another dart, the people
Joyful repeated lo I lo Pean \
Elance the dart, Apollo: for the safety
And health of man, gracious thy mother bore thee !
PRIOR.
The Muses
After the enquiries that have been made, perhaps with too much
minuteness, concerning the origin of that worship which antiquity
paid to Mercury and Apollo, it seems necessary to say something
of other Pagan divinities, among whose attributes music has a place.
Of this class, as most intimately connected with the God of Song,
are the Muses, those celebrated female musicians, so dear to men
of genius, and lovers of art, that it is hardly possible for them to
hear their names mentioned, without feeling a secret and refined
pleasure.
These are the only Pagan divinities whose worship has been
continued through all succeeding changes in the religion and
sentiments of mankind. Professors of every liberal art in all the
countries of Europe, still revere them, particularly the poets, who
seldom undertake the slightest work, without invoking their aid.
It has been asserted by some ancient writers, that at first they
were only three in number ; but Homer, Hesiod, and other profound
mythologists, admit of nine (y). In his Hymn to Apollo, Homer says :
By turns the Nine delight to sing.
And Hesiod, in his Theogony, names them all. They are said
severally to preside over some art or science, as music, poetry,
dancing, astronomy. And each of their names has been supposed
to include some particular allegory: Clio, for instance, has been
thus called, because those who are praised in verse, acquire
immortal fame ; Euterpe, on account of the pleasure accruing to
those who hear learned poetry, &c.
(y) It has been said, that when the citizens of Sicyon directed three skilful statuaries to make
each of them statues of the three Muses, they were all so well executed, that they did not know which
to chttSEj but erected all nine, and. that Hesiod and Homer only gave t^*frn names.
240
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
An Epigram of Callimachus, in the Anthologia, gives the
attributes .of the Nine Muses in as many lines.
Calliope the deeds of heroes sung;
The choral lyre by Clio first was strung;
Euterpe the full tragic chorus found;
Melpomene taught lutes their soothing sound;
Terpsichore the flute's soft pow'r displayed;
By Erato the pious hymn was made ;
Polymnia to the dance her care applied;
Urania wise, the starry course descried;
And gay Thalia's glass was life and manners' guide (z).
This epigram does not, however, exactly correspond with the
ideas of other poets, or with those of the ancient painters, in
characterising the attributes of the Muses.
v Among the capital pictures dug out of Herculaneum, are
portraits of Apollo, and the Muses, his companions: from which
engravings have been published in the second volume of Le
Pitture antiche d'Ercolano.
Portrait I. The God is seated on a throne, with a cithara of
eleven strings in his left hand, in the character of Musagetes, or
conductor of the Muses (a).
II. Clio seated, her head crowned with laurels ; in her left hand
she holds an open volume, in which she appears to be reading. On
the outside is written KAEIQ. I2TOPIAN. Clio invented History.
At her feet are six other rolls, or antique volumes, inclosed in a
cylindrical case.
(2) KoXXtom? tro^afv ^pwiSos evpe? aoi&}
XXeuo, KaXAtxopov /ciflapij? /jteXojSea /
, rpay jeoto x°P°v ToAwjx** ^xavTjv.
j dn}rot<ri ueXu^pow jSapjStroi' flpe"
? XaPl€Crcra Topev Tex^/iovas avXov?,
Yjavovs aJQaLva.riav Epara> iroXvrepjreas evpe"
Tepijaas opxqtifioio Ho\vp.via. Trawo^o? evpev.
[Ap/M>v«}i> ircur<u<n. IIoAv/xvta Bcucev aotSats'l
Ovpaviij rroXov evpe -yat bvpavitav xooov darptav'
Kft>/jttKOv evpe ©aXeta /Siov re icai -^dea KeSva.
Ther» is a redundant line in this epigram, which, though it was evidently intended to convey the
attributes of the nine Muses in as many lines, yet Polymnia occupies two, which characterize her very
differently. 1 have preferred that which I thought the most intelligible. Natalis Comes has given a
Latin version of these-mythological verses, in which he has not adhered very closely to the original
Calliope repent sapientes prmnda cantus
Heroum. Clio citharam darissima. Vocem M imorum Euterpe tragicis Icetata
gueretts.
Melpomene dulcem mortalifats addid.it ipsa Barbiton. Et suauis tfbi tradtia
tibia fertur.
Terpsichore. Divumque Erato max protulit kymnos.
Harmonium cundisque Polymnia cantibus addit.
Euranie ceeli motus atque astro, notavtt.
Comica vita tibi est, Moresque Thalia reperti.
(a) Mythology chose Apollo to preside over arts and sciences, but gave him the nine Muses for
his companions, because the ancients were persuaded, that without the concurrence of a sex, which
every where diffuses grace and pleasure, arts and sciences would have been productive of nothing but
disgust and melancholy to mankind.
Voi,. i. 16 241
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The picture of Euterpe had been so much injured by time, that
it could not be engraved. But the poets usually give her the flute,
as her symbol.
Dulciloquos calamos Euterpe flatibus urget.
Auson. Idyl. 20.
III. 8AAEIA KcoMOAIAN (6). Thalia invented Comedy. This
Muse is represented with a comic mask in her left hand. See Plate
IV. No. 3.
IV. MEAHOMENH TPATo>AIAN. Melpomene invented
Tragedy. A tragic mask is placed in her left hand.
V. TEPWIXOPH AYPAN. Terpsichore presides over the Lyre.
The instrument which she holds is small, and has but seven strings.
The belly of it is in a round form. It is disputed whether this lyre
is the same as the cithara or testudo. The belly and sides are some-
thing like those of the latter. But whatever name this kind of
instrument had in early times, there can be no doubt of lyre being
the general appellation for it when it was painted. See Plate V.
No. 3.
VI. EPATo) ^FAATPIAN. Erato invented the Psaltery, or long
lyre of nine strings. This instrument is more than twice the length
of that in the hand of Terpsichore. See Plate V. No. 4. The Muse
holds a plectrum in her right hand, and seems playing with the
fingers of her left.
VII. HOAYMNIA MY8OY2. Polhymnia the Fabulist. She
is here represented as the patroness of mimes, with her finger on
her mouth, in token of silence. The painter differs in characterising
this Muse from most of the poets and mythologists, who make her
the inventress of hymns to the Gods. However, there are
etymologists, among whom are Plutarch and Nonnus, who derive
her name from MVT^??, tradition, alluding to the fables and tales of
antiquity, which the mimes and dancers usually made the subjects
of their performance. Nonnus Dionys. V. v. 104, et seq. says,
Sweet Polhymnia, see advance,
Mother of the graceful dance :
She who taught th' ingenious art,
Silent language to impart:
Signs for sentiment she found,
Eloquence without a sound :
Hands loquacious save her lungs,
All her limbs are speaking tongues.
VIII. OYPANIA. Urania, with a globe in her hand, as the
patroness of astronomy.
IX. KAAAIOHH nOIHMA. Calliope invented Poetry ; she
is painted with a roll of paper, or volume, in her hand, as the Muse
(&) This should be written Kwjuuufiiav The word, however, has been faithfully transcribed
from the plate in the Antiquities of Herculaneum, where it is said to be erroneously written in the
original inscription upon the base of the statue ; a proof that there were artists among the ancients
who could not spett, as well as among the moderns.
242
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
who presides over heroic verse, or epic poetry ; the invention of
which was given to her by Callimachus in the epigram just cited : *
KaAAtoai; oo<ptijv rjgcoidog SVQSV aot<5i?c.
Calliope th' heroic canto found.
The ancients had numberless ingenious and fanciful ideas
concerning the Muses ; and some very whimsical and diverting:
Fulgentius informs us that Apollo was painted with a cithara of ten
strings, as a symbol of the union of the God with the nine Muses, and
to shew that the human voice is composed of ten parts ; of which
the four first are the front teeth, placed one against the other, so
useful for the appulse of the tongue, in forming sounds, that,
without any one of them, a whistle would be produced instead of a
voice ; the fifth and sixth are the two lips, like cymbals, which, by
being struck against each other, greatiy facilitate speech ; the
seventh is the tongue, which serves as a plectrum to articulate
sounds ; the eighth is the palate, the concave of which forms a belly
to the instrument ; the ninth is the throat, which performs the part
of a flute ; and the tenth the lungs, which supply the place of
bellows.
Pythagoras, and afterwards, Plato, make them the soul of the
planets in our system ; whence the imaginary music of the
spheres (c).
The Pythagoreans and Platonists, says Mr. Stfllingfleet (d),
supposed the universe itself, and all its parts, to be formed on the
principles of harmony. And this supposition does not seem to have
been merely figurative ; there are traces "of the harmonic principle
scattered up and down, sufficient to make us look on it as one of
the great and reigning principles of the inanimate world ; and
though we have no proof, or indeed any reason to believe, that the
Greeks were acquainted with the foundation of some of their
philosophical opinions, yet what that very sagacious philosopher,
Mr. Maclaurin, observes (e), concerning the astronomy of
Pythagoras, seems highly probable. "When we find/* says he,
"their accounts (i.e., of the Greeks) to be very imperfect, it seems
reasonable to suppose they had some hints only, from some more
knowing nations, who had made greater advances in philosophy."
Those more knowing nations I suppose to have been the
Egyptians, from whom the first and great outlines of every art and
science originally came. Maclaurin gives us one instance of the
Pythagorean doctrine, which could hardly be supposed to be of
(c) The comparison and union of the elements of astronomy and music are of much higher
antiquity than, the time of Pythagoras, if the hymn to Apollo, which is attributed to Orpheus, be
genuine. See Op^eoj? Yftvoi, p. 226.
(<Q Principles and Power of Harmony.
(e) Phil. Discov. of Newton, &c. p. 35-
* EUTERPE is often called the muse of Poetry ;
TERPSICHORE, the muse of Choral Song and Dance;
ERATO, the muse of Erotic Poetry and Mime ;
POLHYMNIA, the muse of the sublime Hymn;
CALLIOPE, the muse of Epic Poetry.
(Dr. Smith's Classical Dictionary).
243
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Greek original, the harmony of the spheres, and which, in con-
formity with Dr. Gregory, he explains as follows: " If we should
suppose musical chords extended from the sun to each planet, that
all these chords might become unison, it would be requisite to
encrease or diminish their tensions, in the same proportions as.
would be sufficient to render the gravities of the planets equal; and
from the similitude of those proportions, the celebrated doctrine
of the harmony of the spheres is supposed to have been derived;"
Certainly as this harmonic coincidence is now become, till Sir
Isaac Newton demonstrated the laws of gravitation in relation
to the planets, it must have passed for the dream of an
Utopian philosopher (/).
Bacchus
This personage seems to have acted too important a part in
musical mythology to be omitted: for though he is seldom named
in modern times, but as a sensual encourager of feast and jollity,
he was regarded in a more respectable light by the ancients, who
worshipped him in different countries under different appellations.
It is natural to suppose that the Greeks and Romans, as usual,
bestowed upon the one Bacchus which they worshipped, the several
actions and attributes of the many divinities known by that name,
and by other equivalent denominations in different countries.
However, antiquity chiefly distinguished two Gods under the title
of Bachus: that of Egypt, the son of Ammon, and the same as
Osiris; and that of Thebes in Bceotia, the son of Jupiter and
Semele.*
The Egyptian Bacchus was brought up at Nysa, a city of
Arabia Felix, whence he acquired the name of Dipnysius, or the
God of Nysa; and this was the conqueror of IndiaT Though this
Bacchus of the Egyptians was one of the elder Gods of Egypt,
yet the son of Semele was the youngest of the Grecian deities.
Diodorus Siculus tells us, that Orpheus first deified the son of
Semele by the name of Bacchus, and appointed his ceremonies in
Greece, in order to render the family of Cadmus, the grandfather of
the Grecian Bacchus, illustrious.
The Great Bacchus, according to Sir Isaac Newton (g), flourished
but one generation before the Argonautic expedition. This
Bacchus, says Hermippus (h), was potent at sea, conquered east-
ward as far as India, returned in triumph, brought his army over
the Hellespont, conquered Thrace, and left music, dancing, and
poetry there. And, according to Diodorus Siculus, it was the son
of Semele who invented farces and theatres, and who first established
(/) See Principles and Power of Harmony, p. 146.
(g) Chron. p. 191. (h} Athenaus, lib. i.
* The Egyptian and the Greek Bacchus are now regarded as the same person. He is known also
as Dionysus but was not one of the original divinities. In Homer he is mentioned as one of the minor
gods whose mission was to teach mankind the art of wine ™avtnpr, The cult of Dionysus is very
finely expounded in Walter Pater's Greek Studies. «*«""6 onysus is very
244
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
a music school, exempting from all military functions such
musicians as discovered great abilities in their art; on which
account, says the same author, musicians formed into companies,
have since frequently enjoyed great privileges.
It has already been observed, that the dithyrambics which gave
birth to dramatic representations, are as ancient as the worship of
Bacchus in Greece; and there is little doubt but that the ceremonies
of his mysteries gave rise to the pomp and illusions of the theatre.
Many of the most splendid exhibitions upon the stage, for the
entertainment of the people of Athens and Rome, being performed
upon the festivals of Bacchus, gave occasion to the calling all those
that were employed in them, whether for singing, dancing, or
reciting, servants of Bacchus.
Pausanias, in his Attics, speaks of a place at Athens, consecrated
to Bacchus, the singer; thus named, he says, for the same reason
as Apollo is called. the chief, and conductor of the Muses. Whence
it should seem that Bacchus was regarded by the Athenians not
only as the God of wine, but of song; and it must be owned, that
his followers, in their cups, have been much inclined to singing
ever since. Indeed we are certain, that in none of the orgies,
processions, triumphs, and festivals, instituted by the ancients to
the honour and memory of this prince of bons vivans, music was
forgotten, as may be still gathered from ancient sculpture, where
we find not only that musicians, male and female, regaled him
with the lyre, the flute, and with song; but that he was accom-
panied by fauns and satyrs playing upon timbrels, cymbals,
bagpipes, and horns; these Suidas calls his minstrels; and Strabo
gives them the appellations of Bacchi, Sileni, Satyri, Baccha,
Lence, Thya, Mamillones, Naiades, Nymphce, and Tityri.
These representations have furnished subjects for the finest
remains of ancient sculpture (i); and the most voluptuous passages
of ancient poetry are descriptions of the orgies and festivals of
Bacchus.
The Orgia, or feasts and sacrifices performed in honour of this
God in Greece, were chiefly celebrated on the mountains of Thrace
by wild distracted women called Bacchce (k).
They had certainly their rise in Egypt, where Osiris was the
model of the Grecian Bacchus; from thence they passed into
Greece, Italy, Gaul; and were adopted almost throughout the
whole pagan world. They were at first performed with simplicity
and decorum; but afterwards they degenerated into so much folly
and licentiousness, that historians assure us the debaucheries
practised in them during the night time were so enormous, as to
oblige the Roman senate, in the 556th year of the city, 186 B.C., to
abolish them entirely throughout the Roman dominions (I).
(*) See Mich. Angelo ; de la Chaussie; Montfaucon; &> Gori.
(k) The Orgies of Bacchus have furnished
7 be acquired a truer idea of them, before ti
(Z) Livy, Dec. 4. lib. xxiz. cap. 8. et seq.
(k) The Orgies of Bacchus have furnished ^Eschylus with a subject for one of his tragedies, whence
maybe acquired a truer idea of them, before their corruption, than from any other remains of antiquity
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Modern writers upon mythology pretend to inform us in" what
these orgies consisted, as minutely as if they had been initiated;
but it is hardly possible for credulity itself to imagine, that what
was so great a mystery to the ancients themselves, should be no
secret now.
All we can be certain of, at this distance of time, is, that Greece
had three solemnities known by the name of Orgia, which were
dedicated to Bacchus, to Cybele, and to Ceres: and that each of
them had many ceremonies peculiar to itself : the present enquiries,
however, shall be confined to the music which accompanied the
public processions of Bacchus.
The orgies being a commemoration of the march of the elder
Bacchus into India, and that prince having had in his train
musicians of both sexes, satyrs, and fauns, or men equipped like
fauns and satyrs, these were afterwards employed hi the processions
and orgies, and formed into bands of music, playing upon drums
and cymbals, and crying out Evoke Bacche I
In the Justinian garden at Rome there is a marble vase of most
precious workmanship, upon which is a representation of these
Orgies of Bacchus. This vase, from the beauty of the sculpture,
is supposed to be by the hand of Saurus (m). The whole pomp of
one of these processions is there admirably represented; in which
are introduced Bacchus, the Bacchanals, the Maenades, the players
on flutes, matrons and virgins, with the Crotalum, or cymbalum,
and tympanum; fauns and satyrs, holding in their hands vases
and cups; priests leading the victims destined for sacrifice, such
as the boar, the he-goat, and the bull; and, lastly, old Sflenus,
drunk, upon his ass, which he is hardly able to guide.
With respect to Bacchanalian songs, as the ancient Greeks, and
modern French have at all times had the best wine to drink, they
seem to have been the most happy in singing its praises. Anacreon
will authorise this opinion with respect to the Greeks, and the
French have many Anacreons; among whom may be numbered
the abb6 de Chaulieu, La Chapelle, La Fare, and St. Aulaise.
But Bacchus is said by Diodorus (n) to have invented Beer, for
the use of mankind in such parts of the globe as are unfit for the
culture of the grape; and our gluey potations, with the black
juice of Oporto, have sometimes inspired the bards of this island
with wit and jollity in their drinking songs. And indeed our
Catches, by the ingenuity of the musical composer, are perhaps
fraught with more pleasantry, and are productive of more genuine
mirth, than the Bacchanalian hymns of any other people on the
globe.
(*») It is from thence the drawings of the instruments, Plate IV. No. 6, and several in Plate V.
have been taken.
(») Lib. iv.
Chapter II
Of the Terrestial, or Derni-Qods
HAVING tried to trace the opinions of the wisest men among
the Greek historians, philosophers, and poets, concerning
the musical dispositions and abilities of the greater order
of divinities during their mortal state upon earth, my next attempt
will be to collect what has been thought most consonant to reason
and probability, concerning the Demi-Gods.
Among these, Pan seems to merit the first place (o). The abb6
Banier remarks, that if ever the Greeks corrupted ancient history,
it was in fabricating the fable of Pan. According to them, says
Herodotus, Hercules, Dionysius or Bacchus, and Pan, were the last
of all the Gods: however, in the opinion of the Egyptians, Pan
was one of the eight great divinities that formed the first class in
their theology, which were the most powerful and the most ancient
of all.
Diodorus makes him one of the attendants upon Osiris, in his
Indian expedition. " Osiris," says this author, " took with him
Pan, a person much respected throughout his dominions; for he had
not only his statue afterwards placed in all the temples, but a city
was built in the Thebaid, which, in honour of Pan, was called
Chemmis* or Chammo, a word that signifies in the Egyptian
language, the city of Pan."
The same author, however tells us, that he was the leader of a
troop of fauns and satyrs, or wild and rustic men, much addicted
to singing, dancing, and feats of activity, who were presented to
Osiris in Ethiopia; and with whom that prince was so much pleased,
that he retained them in his service.
He was also the inventor of the instrument called the syrinx,
or fistula; which invention has given birth to a fable in Ovid's
Metamorphoses (£).
A nymph of late appear' d, as Dian chaste,
Whose beauteous form all other nymphs surpassed;
The pride and joy of fair Arcadia's plains.
Belov'd by deities, ador'd by swains,
Syrinx her name; by sylvans oft pursu'd,
As oft would she the wanton Gods delude.
Descending from Lycaeus, Pan admires
(o) Jirftan. Aurdius de Cognontinib. Dew. Gentil. Lit. Gyraldus Hist. Deor. Synt. XV. Ab. Dedaustre
Dision. Mitolog. torn. iii. p. 41.
tp] Lib. i.
247
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The matchless nymph, and burns with new desires.
A crown of pine upon his head he wore,
And vainly strove her pity of implore:
For ere he could begin, she took her flight,
And, wing'd by fear, she soon was out of sight,
Nor stay'd to hear the courtship of the God,
But bent her course to Ladon's gentle flood;
There by the river stopt, and tir'd before,
Relief from water-nymphs her pray'rs implore.
Now while the am'rous God, with speedy pace
Just thought to strain her in a fond embrace,
He fills his arms with reeds, new rising on the place.
And while he sighs, his ill success to find,
The tender canes were shaken by the wind;
And breath'd a mournful air, unheard before,
Which greatly Pan surpris'd, yet pleas'd him more.
Admiring this new music, Thou, he said,
Who can'st not be the partner of my bed,
At least shalt be the consort of my mind,
And often, often to my lips be join'd!
The tuneful reeds he form'd, and wax'd with care,
Which still retain the name of his ungrateful fair.
DRYDEN
Pan was regarded by the Egyptians, after his apotheosis, as
the God who presided over the whole universe, as Uav, omne,
implies. He represented nature and festivity, and was God of the
woods and fields, wholly taken up with the pleasures of a country
life; dancing constantly with the fauns and satyrs, and running
after the nymphs, to whom he was such a terror, that it is supposed
the word Panic is derived from Panici terrores, with which those
who were said to have seen him were seized. Apuleius (q)t how-
ever, gives an agreeable description of him. " By chance the
God, Pan, happened to be seated on a little eminence near a river,
and, always constant in his love to the nymph Syrinx, transformed
into a reed, he taught her to produce all kinds of agreeable sounds,
while his goats were skipping round him, and feeding on the
banks/'
Lucian describes him as the companion, minister, and counsellor
of Bacchus. He was a kind of Scrub, a drudge, fit for all work,
having been occasionally employed in the capacity of shepherd,
musician, dancer, huntsman, and soldier. In short, he served not
only as maestro di capella, in directing the Bacchanals, but was
so expert in playing upon flutes, and was such an excellent piper
on the fistula, that Bacchus was never happy without him. We
have the authority of the grave Virgil (r) and of the sentimental
and pious Plato (s), for his attributes.
(q) Metamorph. lib. v. (r) Eclogue 2.
(s) Platonis Carmina apud Nat. Comit. Myibolog. lib. vii. cap. 15.
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
After Pan, it seems necessary to speak of the satyrs, of whom
the oldest, according to Pausanias, were called Sileni, from Silenus,
the governor of Bacchus in his youth, as a hymn, attributed
to Orpheus, informs us. Silenus was so notable a musician, that he
is not only said to have invented musical instruments, but to have
had the courage, like Marsyas, to challenge even Apollo himself
to a trial of skill: though we find by the catastrophe that he
escaped with a whole skin (£).
Shepherds dressed in goats' skins have been thought by some
to have furnished the idea of satyrs with goats' feet. But it is
the opinion of a modem writer (v), that the Orang-outang has been
the prototype of all the fauns, satyrs, Pans, and Sileni, described
by the ancient poets, and whose forms are come down to us in the
works of the painters and sculptors of antiquity; embellished or
disfigured, according to the fancy or genius of the authors; who,
having no real models, have given an unbounded scope to
imagination in representing them. And yet these animals seem to
have been much more numerous formerly than at present; witness
the large troops to which Alexander, when in India, prepared to
give battle; and the attack made by Hanno on another large body
of them, in an island on the coast of Africa, where he took three
of the females, whose skins were deposited in the temple of Juno,
and found there by the Romans at the taking of Carthage (x).
Satyr is a name given by some authors, says M. de Buffon, to
the Orang-outang, or man of the woods, an animal that differs in
form less from man than from the Ape, and is only to be found
in Africa, and the southern parts of Asia (y). Dr. Tyson, and the
celebrated anatomist Cowper, who jointly dissected one of these
animals, found in him more specific marks of resemblance to man,
than to any other creature (z).
Since the interior parts of Africa and India have been better
known, this large species of Ape, equal in size and strength to
man, and as fond of women as of his own females, has been
frequently seen. This animal arms himself with stones in attack-
ing his enemies, and sticks in defending himself; and, besides his
being without a tail, and having a flat face, his arms, hands,
fingers, and nails, are like those of human creatures, and he always
walks upright upon his two hinder legs. He has a kind of face and
features much resembling those of man, with ears of the same
form, hair upon his head, and a beard on his chin: so that the
civilized Indians make no scruple of ranking him among the
human species by the name of Orang-outang, or wild man; though
the Negroes, almost equally wild, and quite as ill-favoured, not
reflecting that man is more or less exalted, in proportion as his
(i) Pausanias Corinth, cap. 22.
(u) The author of Reckerches Philosophiques sttr les Americains.
(*) Strabo, lib. xv. and Hannonis Periplutn.
(y) Hist. Nat. torn. ix.
(») Anat. of the Ourang-outang, London, 1699, 4to.
249
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
reason is cultivated, have given them the name of Pongo, which
implies a beast, and not a man. But vices in men similar to those
of goats and monkeys, have more frequently furnished ideas of a
resemblance between them and those animals, than their figures.
This Orang-outang, or Pongo, is indeed only an animal of the
brute kind, though of so singular a nature, that man can never
behold him without a secret horror, in comparing him with himself,
or without being convinced that his own body is not the most
essential part of his nature.
Next to the Satyrs, it seems requisite to say something of the
Sirens, those celebrated songstresses of Sicily, who were ranked
among the Demi-gods, as well as Demi reps, of antiquity. Hyginus
places their birth among the consequences of the rape of Proserpine.
Others make them daughters of the river Acheloiis, and one of the
Muses (a).
O ye nymphs that from the flood descend,
What fault of yours the Gods could so offend,
With wings and claws your beauteous forms to spoil,
.Yet save your maiden face, and winning smile?
Were you not with her, in Pergusa's bow'rs,
When Proserpine went forth to gather flow'rs?
Since Pluto in his car the goddess caught,
Have you not for her in each climate sought?
And when on land you oft had search'd in vain,
You wish'd for wings to cross the pathless main.
The earth and sea were witness to your care :
The Gods were easy, and retuni'd your pray'r;
With golden wings o'er foamy waves you fled,
And to the sun your plumy glories spread:
But lest the soft enchantment of your songs,
And the sweet music of your flattering tongues,
STiould quite be lost, as courteous fates ordain,
Your voice and virgin beauty still remain.
GARTH'S Ovid.
The number of the Sirens was three, and their names Parthenope,
Lygea, and Leucosia. Some make them half women and half fish;
others, half women and half birds. There are antique representa-
tions of them still subsisting, under both these forms.
On an Etruscan vase, in the grand duke's collection at Florence,
the middle Siren holds a syrinx, with seven pipes; another plays
on the lyre with the plectrum, and the third on a monaulos, or
single pipe. These have wings, and birds feet (&); and in the
Museo at Portici, there is a fine piece of antique Mosaic, dug out
of Herculaneum, which represents one of the Sirens in the act of
singing, another playing upon the flute, and the third upon the
lyre.
(a) Ovid M€t. lib. v. (&) See Gori Mus. Zstruc. Class ii p. 288.
250
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
Pausanias tells us that the Sirens, by the persuasion of Juno,
challenged the Muses to a trial of skill in singing; and these having
vanquished them, plucked the golden feathers from the wings of
the Sirens, and formed them into crowns, with which they adorned
their own heads. And it was, perhaps, in allusion to this circum-
stance, that the proverbial phrase originated, of one person pluming
himself with the feathers, or talents, of another.
The Argonauts are said to have been diverted from the enchant-
ment of their songs, by the superior strains of Orpheus : Ulysses,
however, had great difficulty in securing himself from seduction.
Circe prepares him for the conflict by the following picture
and precepts (c).
Next where the Sirens dwell you plow the seas,
Their song is death, and makes destruction please.
Unblest the man, whom music wins to stay
Nigh the curst shore, and listen to the lay :
No more that wretch shall view the joys of life,
His blooming offspring, or his beauteous wife!
Fly swift the dangerous coast ! let every ear
Be stop'd against the song! 'tis death to hear!
Firm to the mast thyself with chains be bound,
Nor trust thy virtue to th' enchanting sound.
If mad with transport, freedom thou demand,
Be every fetter strain'd, and added band to band.
And the hero himself, upon his arrival on the coast of Sicily,
addresses his companions in the following admirable lines :
O friends! 0 ever partners of my woes!
Attend, while I what heav'n foredooms disclose,
Hear all ! fate hangs o'er all ! on you it lies
To live or perish ; to be safe, be wise!
In flow'ry meads the sportive sirens play,
Touch the soft lyre, and tune the vocal lay ;
Me, me alone, with fetters firmly bound,
The Gods allow to hear the dangerous sound.
Then follows the account which Ulysses himself gives of
them (d).
While yet I speak the winged galley flies,
And lo! the siren shores like mists arise.
Sunk were at once the winds ; the air above,
And waves below, at once forgot to move !
Some daemon calm'd the air, and smooth'd the deep,
Hush'd the loud winds, and chann'd the waves to sleep.
Now ev'ry sail we furl, each oar we ply,
Lash'd by the stroke, the frothy waters fly ;
The ductile wax with busy hands I mold,
(c) 04ys. lib. xii. ver. 51. (d) Ibid.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
And cleft in fragments, and the fragments rolTd ;
Th* aerial region now grew warm with day,
The wax dissolved beneath the burning ray ;
Then every ear I barr'd against the strain,
And from access of phrenzy lock'd the brain.
Now round the mast, my mates the fetters rolTd,
And bound me limb by limb, with fold on fold.
Then bending to the stroke, the active train,
Plunge all at once their oars, and cleave the main.
While to the shore the rapid vessel flies,
Our swift approach the siren choir descries ;
Celestial music warbles from their tongue,
And thus the sweef deluders tune the song.
O stay! 0 pride of Greece, Ulysses stay,
0 stop thy course, and listen to our lay!
Blest is the man ordain'd our voice to hear,
The song instructs the soul, and charms the ear.
Approach ! thy soul shall into raptures rise,
Approach! and learn new wisdom from the wise !
We know whatever the kings of mighty name
Achiev'd at Ilion in the field of fame ;
Whate'er beneath the sun's bright journey lies,
0 stay, and learn new wisdom from the wise! (e).
Thus the sweet charmers warbled o'er the main,
My soul takes wing to meet the heav'nly strain ;
1 give the sign, and struggle to be free :
Swift row my mates, and shoot along the sea ;
New chains they add, and rapid urge the way,
Till dying off, the distant sounds decay ;
Then scudding swiftly from the dang'rous ground,
The deafen'd ear unlocked, the chains unbound.
Pope, in his note on this passage, says, " there are several
things remarkable in this short song of the sirens; one of the first
words they speak is the name of Ulysses ; this shews that they had
a kind of omniscience ; and it could not fail to raise the curiosity
of a wise man to be acquainted with persons of such extensive
knowledge. The song is well adapted to the character of Ulysses ;
it is not pleasure or dalliance with which they tempt that hero,
but a promise of wisdom, and a recital of the war of Troy, and
his own glory. Homer, says Cicero, saw that his fable could not
be approved, if he made his hero to be taken with a mere song:
the Sirens therefore promise knowledge, the desire^ of which might
probably prove stronger than the love of his country. To desire
to know all things, whether useful or trifles, is a faulty curiosity ;
(e\ There is a remarkable similitude between this promise of wisdom made by the Sirens to
Ulysses, and that of knowledge from the tree of life, which was offered to our first parents, by the
serpent. Gen. iii. In the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened ; and ye shall be as Gods,
knowing good and evil.
25*
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
but to be led by the contemplation of things great and noble, to a
thirst of knowledge, is an instance of greatness of soul."
Again, in his notes to the twelfth book of the Odyssey, " The
critics have greatly laboured to explain what was the foundation
of this fiction of the Sirens. We are told by some that the Sirens
were queens of certain small islands, named Sirenusce, that lie near
Capreae in Italy, and chiefly inhabited the promontory of Minerva,
upon the top of which that Goddess had a temple, as some affirm,
built by Ulysses. Here there was a renowned academy, in the reign
of the Sirens, famous for eloquence and the liberal sciences, which
gave occasion to the invention of this fable of the sweetness of
the voice, and attracting songs of the Sirens. But why then are
they fabled to be destroyers, and painted in such dreadful colours.
We are told that at last the students abused their knowledge, to
the colouring of wrong, the corruption of manners, and the subver-
sion of government: that is, in the language of poetry, they were
feigned to be transformed into monsters, and with their music to
have enticed passengers to their ruin, who there consumed their
patrimonies, and poisoned their virtues with riot and effeminacy.
The place is now cajled Massa. Some writers tell us of a certain
bay, contracted within winding streights and broken cliffs, which,
by the singing of the winds, and beating of the waters, returns a
delightful harmony, that allures the passenger to approach, who is
immediately thrown against the rocks, and swallowed up by the
violent eddies. Thus Horace moralising, calls idleness a Siren,
Vitanda est improba siren Desidia.
But the fable may be applied to all pleasures in general, which if
too eagerly pursued, betray the incautious into ruin ; while wise
men, Uke Ulysses, making use of reason, stop their ears against
their insinuations."
All ancient authors agree in telling us, that Sirens inhabited
the coast of Sicily. The name, according to Bocharfc, who derives
it from the Phoenician language, implies a Songstress. Hence it
is probable, that in ancient times there may have been excellent
singers, but of corrupt morals, on the coast of Sicily, who by
seducing voyagers, gave rise to this fable. And if this conjecture
be well founded, I was too hasty in declaring that the Muses
were the only Pagan divinities who preserved their influence over
mankind in modern times ; for every age has its Sirens, and every
Siren her votaries ; when beauty and talents, both powerful in
themselves, are united, they become still more attractive.
Chapter III
Concerning the Music of Heroes and Heroic Times
Inventus aut qui vitam excoluere per artes,
Quique sui memores alios fecere merendo (/).
IT has been the opinion of the greatest poets, and the most
ancient historians, that in the early ages of the world the chief
employment of princes was to tend their flocks, and to amuse
themselves with rustic songs, accompanied by rude and artless
instruments.
The poetical descriptions of the golden age are pleasing pictures
of an innocent life, and simplicity of manners ; Ovid and Lucretius
seem to have exhausted the subject.
But the pastoral kings of Egypt, and the shepherds of Arcadia,
have furnished themes for a more elegant and polished species
of poetry, without the admission of vice or luxury.
After this, when mankind, not content with the natural and
spontaneous productions of the earth, obtained an artificial
encrease by tillage,
The ploughman then, to sooth the toilsome day,
Chanted in measured feet his sylvan lay;
And seed-time o'er, he first hi blithsome vein,
Pip'd to his houshold Gods the hymning strain (g).
GRAINGER.
In process of time, when the human mind was more enlarged
and cultivated; when the connexions and interests of men and
states became more complicated, music and poetry extended their
influence, and use, from the field to the city; and those who before
only amused themselves while tending a flock of sheep, or herd
of cattle, were now employed to sing either with the voice alone,
or accompanied with instruments, the mysteries of religion, or the
valiant deeds performed by heroes hi defence of their country.
Of this use of poetry and music, innumerable instances may be
(/) Worthies, who life by useful arts refin'd,
With those, who left a deathless name behind,
Friends of the world, and fathers of mankind!
PITT'S Mneid of Vir&l, Book VI.
(g) Agricola assiduo primum satiatus arakro.
Caniavit certo rustica verba pede.
Et satur arenti primum est modulatus avena,
Carmen, vt ornatos diceref ante Deos.
Tibul. lib. ii. EUg. x
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
found in Homer and Virgil. Indeed singer was a common name
among the Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, and other ancient people,
for poet and musician, employments which, with them, were
inseparable, as no poetry was written but to be sung, and little
or no music composed, but as an accompaniment to poetry (h).
Hence the difficulty of discriminating the effects attributed to
music, from those of poetry and the other arts, which were then
so much connected with music, as to constitute an essential and
indispensable part of it. Every thing that depended on propor-
tion, was included in the science of Harmony. Hence every man
of science was necessarily a musician, as the study of Harmony,
according to its ancient and extensive signification, must have
employed a very considerable part of the time spent in the education
of those who were intended to fill important and conspicuous
employments in the temple, the senate, or the field. This being
premised, I shall proceed to speak of the use of music in the times
which the Greeks distinguished by the epithet heroic, which may
more properly be called poetic times ; for, though little better
than a blank in history and chronology, they have notwithstanding
been filled up by the poets and fabulists with wonderful events, in
the same manner as the vacuity in parts of the Pacific ocean have
been filled up by navigators and geographers with whales, with
dolphins, and with sea monsters.
In this chapter I shall consider what ancient authors furnish
relative to our subject in the times of the Theban chiefs, the Argo-
nauts, and the Trojans, the richest and most fertile periods in all
antiquity for poetic and dramatic events, though they are some-
what barren with respect to music. But as little can be said with
certainty concerning the music of this period, I shall chiefly
confine my enquiries to musicians, whose names are upon record;
and stripping their biography of fiction and allegory, I shall relate
only the few historical facts which are to be found concerning
them, in authentic remains of antiquity.
So many fables have been devised concerning the first poets and
musicians, that a doubt has been thrown even upon their existence.
Chiron, Amphion, Orpheus, Linus, and Musaeus, are spoken of
by the poets and mythologists so hyperbolically, that the time
when, and place where they flourished, will appear to many as
little worth a serious enquiry as the genealogy of Tom Thumb, or
the chronology of a fairy tale. However, though I am ready to
part with the miraculous powers of their music, I am unwilling
that persons, whose talents have been so long celebrated, should
be annihilated, and their actions cancelled from the records of past
times.
Ev'n from the tomb the voice of nature cries,
Ev'n in the ashes live their wonted fires.
(h) Aristotle, in his Poetics, cap. 5. Quintil d& Ins*. Orator, lib. L cap. xo, and Cicero dt Orat
lib. Hi. are very full upon this subject.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
But there are characters in history superior to the devastations
of time; like those high rocks in the ocean, against which the
winds and waves are for ever, in vain, expending their fury.
Nor can the fame of Orpheus, Linus, and Musaeus, ever be wholly
consigned to oblivion, as long as any one alphabet remains in
use among mankind. Their works may be destroyed, and their
existence doubted, but their names must be of equal^ duration with
the world. The memory of few transactions of importance to
mankind, has been lost since letters have been found^: and if
we are ignorant of the history of the Egyptian, Assyrian, and
Persian monarchies, it is from their having preceded that period.
The first preceptors of mankind, such as are now the subject^ of
my enquiries, had too much business upon their hands in civilizing
their savage cotemporaries, to write either the history of their
ancestors, or their own. Learning was then in too few hands for
all its departments to be filled; but since its general diffusion,
nothing worth recording has been left untold.
It is impossible to particularize within the limits of this work,
or even to enumerate in a General History of an art which has
subsisted so many ages as music, all those who have been success-
ful in its cultivation. This would require a biographical work,
more voluminous than that of Moreri, or Bayle; for as all the
first poets were likewise musicians, they cannot be separated during
the union of their professions. Indeed antiquity has left ample
materials scattered throughout all literature, for writing the lives
of its favourite bards, many of which have been collected by the
indefatigable labour of the learned Fabricius (t), and M. Burette
(&), who have both greatly facilitated and abridged my enquiries:
the chief difficulties now remaining, are to select such as are most
interesting, and to digest them into my work, without allowing
them to occupy too large a portion of it, to the exclusion of more
important concerns.
Though the Egyptian Thebes is of much higher antiquity than
the Grecian, yet this last is so ancient, and its history is so much
involved in darkness and poetic fiction, that nothing can be
depended upon concerning it, but that it is recorded to have been
built by Cadmus, long before the Trojan war, or even the
Argonautic expedition; Pausanias, indeed, gives a list of sixteen
kings, who reigned at Thebes in Bceotia, but they are rather the
heroes of tragedy, than real history. Among these is
AMPHION, the twin brother of Zethus, 'who usurped the
crown from Laius, the father of the unfortunate Oedipus. But
though Amphion is the first and only Theban musician upon
record in these early ages, I shall be the less minute in my account
of him, as it is very doubtful whether music had any of those
obligations to his genius and talents, which the poets, many ages
after the time when he is said to have reigned, bestowed upon him.
Homer, indeed, tells us, that to secure the crown which he had
(*) Bib. Grac. (k) Mem. des Inscrip.
HISTORY OP GREEK MUSIC
isurped, he inclosed the city of Thebes with a wall, fortified with
;even gates, and many stately towers: the poet, however, does
lot say a word of the miraculous power of Amphion's music, or
)f his building the wall by the sound of his lyre. " For my part,
says Pausanias, I believe that Amphion only acquired his musical
reputation from his alliance with the family of Tantalus, whose
laughter, Niobe, he had married." Pliny (Z) ascribes to him,
however, the invention of music, and of the cithara; and both these
authors say, that Amphion learned music in Lydia, and bringing
£ from that country into Greece, was called the inventor of the
Lydian mode.
CHIRON is styled by Plutarch, in his Dialogue upon Music,
the wise Centaur. Sir Isaac Newton places his birth in the first
age after Deucalion's deluge, commonly called the Golden Age;
and adds, that he formed the constellations for the use of the
Argonauts, when he was eighty-eight years old, for he was a
practical astronomer, as well as his daughter Hippo (m) : he may
therefore be said to have flourished in the earliest ages of Greece,
as he preceded the conquest of the Golden Fleece, and the Trojan
war.
He is generally called the son of Saturn and Philyra, and is
said to have been born in Thessaly among the Centaurs, who were
the first Greeks that had acquired the art of breaking and riding
horses ; whence the poets, painters, and sculptors, have described
and represented them as a compound of man and horse ; and
perhaps it was imagined by the Greeks, as well as the Americans,
when they first saw cavalry, that the horse and the rider con-
stituted one and the same animal.
Chiron was regarded by the ancients as one of the first inventors
of medicine, botany, and chirurgery (n) ; a word which some
etymologists have derived from his name. He inhabited a grotto,
or cave, at the foot of mount Pelion, which from his wisdom, and
great knowledge of all kinds, became the most famous and
frequented school throughout Greece. Almost all the heroes of his
time were ambitious of receiving his instructions ; and Xenophon,
who enumerates them, names the following illustrious personages
among his disciples: Cephalus, Esculapius, Melanion, Nestor,
Amphiaraus, Peleus, Telamon, Meleager, Theseus, Hypolitus,
Palamedes, Ulysses, Mnestheus, Diomedes, Castor and Pollux,
Machaon and Podalirius, Antilochus, uEneas, and Achilles. From
this catalogue it appears, that Chiron frequently instructed both
fathers and sons ; and Xenophon has given a short eulogium upon
each, which may be read in his works, and which redounds to
the honour of the preceptor. The Greek historian, however, has
omitted naming several of his scholars, such as Bacchus, Phoenix,
Cocytus, Aristseus, Jason, and his son Medus, Ajax, and Protesilaus.
(I) Lib. vii. cap. 56. (m) Chron. p. 25.
(n) Schol. Horn, II. iv. v. 219. Schol. Arat. Phcenom. v. 43. Hygin. Fab. 274. Plin. lib. vii.
ip. 56, sect. 57-
Voi,. i. 17 257
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
It is not my intention to characterize all these ; I shall only mention
such as interest Chiron more particularly.
It is pretended that the Grecian Bacchus was the favourite
scholar of the Centaur, and that he learned of this master the revels,
orgies, Bacchanalia, and other ceremonies of his worship.
According to Plutarch, it was likewise at the school of Chiron
that Hercules studied music, medicine, and justice ; though
Diodorus Siculus tells us that Linus was the music-master of this
hero. These are points which it is now not easy to settle ; nor are
they of any other consequence to our enquiries, than serving as
proofs, that ancient authors all agreed in thinking it natural and
necessary for heroes to have been instructed in music. Nee fides
didicit, nee naiare, was, in antiquity, a reproach to every man
above the rank of a plebeian.
But among all the heroes who have been disciples of this
Centaur, no one reflected so much honour upon him as Achilles,
whose renown he in some measure shared, and to whose education
he in a particular manner attended, being his grandfather by the
mother's side. Apollodorus tells that the study of music employed
a considerable part of the time which he bestowed upon his young
pupil, as an incitement to virtuous actions, and a bridle to the
impetuosity of his temper. One of the best remains of antique
painting now subsisting, is a picture upon this subject, dug out of
Herculaneum, in which Chiron is teaching the young Achilles to
play on the lyre.
The death of this philosophic musician was occasioned, at an
extreme old age, by an accidental wound in the knee with a poisoned
arrow, shot by his scholar, Hercules, at another. He was placed
after his death by Musaeus among the constellations, [as Sagittarius]
through respect for his virtues, and in gratitude for the great services
which he had rendered the people of Greece (o).
The ancients have not failed to attribute to him several writings;
among which, according to Suidas (p), are precepts, vno&ijxae,
in verse, composed for the use of Achilles ; and a medicinal treatise
on the Diseases incident to Horses, and other quadrupeds,
faxiaTQixov ; the lexicographer even pretends, that it is from this
work he derived his name of Centaur.
Fabricius (q) gives a list of thie works attributed to Chiron, and
discusses the claims which have been made for others to the same
writings ; and in vol. xiii. he gives him a distinguished place in his
Catalogue of ancient Physicians.
Next to Chiron, LINUS, and Orpheus, seem to have been the
most ancient poets and musicians of Greece ; but to determine
whether Linus was the master of Orpheus, or Orpheus of Linus,
would be as vain to attempt, as difficult to accomplish. All that can
be done at this distance of time, is to compare the opinions of ancient
(o) Sir Isaac Newton says, in proof of the constellations being formed by Chiron and Mussus
lor the use and honour of the Argonauts, that nothing later than that expedition was delineated on
the original sphere ; according to the same author, Chiron lived till after the Argonautic expedition,
in which he had two grandsons. Chronol. p. 151.
(p) Voc. X«pw. (q} Sib. Grtec. vol. i.
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
writers upon lie subject, and to incline to the most numerous and
respectable evidence: and in pursuing this method, it appears that
the majority are in favour of the superior antiquity of Linus. No
testimony places him in a more remote period, or does more honour
to his memory, than that of Herodotus, already cited (r). Accord-
ing to archbishop Usher, he flourished about 1280 B.C., and he is
mentioned by Eusebius (s) among the poets who wrote before the
time of Moses. Diodorus Siculus, who is very diffusive in his
account of Linus (Q, tells us, from Dionysius of Mitylene, the
historian, who was cotemporary with Cicero, that Linus was the first
among the Greeks who invented verse and music, as Cadmus first
taught them the use of letters. The same writer likewise attributes
to him an account of the exploits of the first Bacchus, and a treatise
upon Greek Mythology, written in Pelasgian characters, which
were also those used by Orpheus, and by Pronapides, the preceptor
of Homer. Diodorus says that he added the string Lichanos to the
Mercurian lyre, and gives to him the invention of rhythm and
melody, which Suidas, who regards him as the most ancient of
lyric poets, confirms (u). He is said by many ancient writers to
have had several disciples of great renown, among whom were
Hercules, Thamyris, and, according to some, Orpheus.
Hercules, says Diodorus, in learning of Linus to play upon the
lyre, being extremely dull and obstinate, provoked his master to
strike him, which so enraged the young hero, that instantly seizing
the lyre of the musician, he beat out his brains with his own
instrument. Heroes are generally impatient of controtd, and not
often gifted with a taste for refined pleasures ; hence, relying
merely on corporal force, their mental faculties, feeble perhaps by
nature, are seldon fortified by education.
With respect to the dirges, which Plutarch, from Heraclides of
Pontus, mentions as written by Linus,* I find no account of them
in any other ancient author. It appears, however, that his death
has given birth to many songs of that kind, which have been com-
posed in honour of his memory. A festival was likewise instituted
by the name of Lmiat for the celebration of his virtues ; and so
numerous were his inventions, and various the periods and places
in which different authors fix them, that some have tried to
reconcile these jarring accounts, by supposing that there were three
several illustrious personages of that name ; a supposition which I
shall not pretend either to affirm or deny.
" The Thebans," says Pausanias (#), " assure us, that Linus
was buried in their city; and that Philip, the son of Amyntas, after
the battle of Chseronsea, which was fatal to the Greeks, excited
(r)P.i69 (s) Pr &p. Evang. (*) Lib. iii. cap. 35.
(«) Mr. Marpurg tells us, I know not from what authority, that Linus invented cat-gut strings for
the use of the lyre, which, before his time, was only strung with thongs of leather, or with different
threads of flax twisted together. Geschichte der MUSIK, page 17.
(x) In Bteatic.
* According to Fraaer it is probable that the dirge known as the linos-song was a lamentation for
the departure of summer. It was chanted, he observes, at the vintage and probably at the harvest.
The Linos song was sung in Syria, Egypt and in other countries.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
by a dream, removed his bones into Macedon, whence, by counsel
received in another dream, he sent them back to Thebes; but time
has so defaced his tomb, that it is no longer discoverable."
Homer (y) has paid a tribute to the memory of Linus, in his
description of the shield of Achilles.
To these a youth awakes the warbling strings,
Whose tender" lay the fate of Linus sings ;
In measured dance behind him move the train,
Tune soft the voice, and answer to the strain (z). POPE.
ORPHEUS is one of the most ancient and venerable names
among the poets and musicians of Greece. His reputation was
established as early as the time of the Argonautic expedition, in
which he was himself an adventurer; and is said by Apollonius
Rhodius, not only to have incited the Argonauts to row by the
sound of his lyre, but to have vanquished, and put to silence the
Sirens, by the superiority of his strains (a). Yet, notwithstanding
the great celebrity he had so long enjoyed, there is a passage in
Cicero, which says, that Aristotle, in the third book of his Poetics,
which is now lost, was of opinion that such a person as Orpheus
never existed (6); but as the work of Cicero, in which this passage
occurs, is in dialogue, it is not easy to discover what was his own
opinion upon the subject, the words cited being put into the mouth
of Caius Cotta. And Cicero, in other parts of his writings, men-
tions Orpheus as a person of whose existence he had no doubts.
There are several ancient authors, among whom is Suidas, who
enumerate five persons of the name of Orpheus, and relate some
particulars of each. And it is very probable that it has fared with
Orpheus as with Hercules, and that writers have attributed to one
the actions of many. But however that may have been, I shall
not attempt to collect all the fables that poets and mythologists
have invented concerning him; they are too well known to need
insertion here. I shall, therefore, in speaking of him, make use
only of such materials as the best ancient historians, and the most
respectable writers among the moderns, have furnished towards
his history.
Dr. Cudworth, in his Intellectual System (c), after examining
and confuting the objections that have been made to the being of
(y) Lib. rviii. ver. 569.
(z) Lib. xviii. In bis notes upon these verses, Mr. Pope says, " there are two interpretations of
them in the original. That which I have chosen is confirmed by the testimony of Herodotus lib iL
and Pausanfes, Bceatitis. Linus was the most ancient name in poetrv, the first upon record who
invented verse and measure amongst the Greeks. There was a solemn custom among them of
. em o
bewailing annually the death of their first poet. Pausanias informs us, that before the yearly sacrifice
to the Muses on Mount Helicon, the obsequies of Linus were performed, who had a stetue and altar
erected to him in that place. Homer alludes to that custom in this passage, and was doubtless fond
of paying this respect to the old father of poetry." ououess icraa
(a) This celebrated voyage, which is the first epoch in the Grecian history, upon which any stress
can belaid, was undertaken, according to archbishop Usher, and the authors of the Universal Histon
1280 B.C, Dr. Blau- places it 1263 ; and Sir Isaac Newton, and Dr. Priestley, 936 years beforette
same period ; but all chronologers agree in fixing this «*nterprize near a century before the Trojan war,
.. (&) Orpheum Poetam facet Aristoteles nunquamfuisse. De Nat. Deor. I. i. sec. 38.
(c} Page 294. 2d Edition.
260
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
an Orpheus, and, with his usual learning and abilities, clearly
establishing his existence, proceeds, in a very ample manner* to
speak of the opinions and writings of our bard, whom he regards
not only as the first musician and poet of antiquity, but as a great
mythologist, from whom the Greeks derived the Thracian religious
rites and mysteries.
" It is the opinion/' says he, " of some eminent philologers (d)
of later times, that there never was any such person as Orpheus,
except in Fairy land; and that his whole history was nothing but a
mere romantic allegory, utterly devoid of truth and reality. But
there is nothing alledged for this opinion from antiquity, except
the one passage of Cicero concerning Aristotle, who seems to have
meant no more than this, that there was no such poet as Orpheus,
anterior to Homer, or that the verses vulgarly called Orphical, were
not written by Orpheus. However, if it should be granted that
Aristotle had denied the existence of such a man, there seems to
be no reason why his single testimony should preponderate against
the universal consent of all antiquity, which agrees, that Orpheus
was the son of Oeager, by birth a Thracian, the father, or chief
founder of the mythological and allegorical theology amongst the
Greeks, and of all their most sacred religious rites and mysteries;
who is commonly supposed to have lived before the Trojan war,
that is, in the time of the Israelitish judges, or at least to have
been senior both to Hesiod and Homer, and to have died a violent
death, most affirming that he was torn in pieces by women. For
which reason, in the vision of Herus Pamphylius, in Plato,
Orpheus' s soul passing into another body, is said to have chosen
that of a swan, a reputed musical animal, on account of the great
hatred he had conceived for all women, from the death which they
had inflicted on him. And the historic truth of Orpheus was not
only acknowledged by Plato, but also by Isocrates, who lived
before Aristotle, in his oration in praise of Busiris; and confirmed
by the grave historian Diodorus Siculus (e) who says, that Orpheus
diligently applied himself to literature, and when he had learned
ra pv&oloyoviieva, or the mythological part of theology, he
travelled into Egypt, where he soon became the greatest proficient
among the Greeks, in the mysteries of religion, theology, and
poetry. Neither was this history of Orpheus contradicted by
Origen, when so justly provoked by Celsus, who had preferred him
to our Saviour; and, according to Suidas, Orpheus the Thracian was
the first inventor of the religious mysteries of the Greeks, and that
religion was thence called Threskeia, as it was a Thracian invention.
On account of the great antiquity of Orpheus, there have been
numberless fables intermingled with his history, yet there appears
no reason that we should disbelieve the existence of such a man/"
The bishop of Gloucester (/) speaks no more doubtfully of the
existence of Orpheus, than of Homer and Hesiod, with whom he
(4) G. I. Vossius De Ar. Po. cap. 13. («) Lib. iv. cap. 25.
(/) Div. Leg. book ii. sect. i.
261
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
ranks him, not only as poet, but also as a theologian, and founder
of religion. This learned author has thrown new lights upon the
character of Orpheus; our pursuits are somewhat different; it was
his business to introduce him to his readers as a philosopher, a
legislator, and a mystagogue; and it is mine, after establishing his
existence, to rank him among the first cultivators of music and
poetry, and to give him that exalted and respectable station among
illustrious bards, which has been allowed him by almost all
antiquity.
The family of Orpheus is traced by Sir Isaac Newton for several
generations : " Sesac passing over the Hellespont, conquers Thrace,
kills Lycurgus, king of that country, and gives his kingdom, and
one of his singing women to Oeagrus, the son of Tharops, and father
of Orpheus; hence Orpheus is said to have had the Muse Calliope
for his mother."
He is allowed by most ancient authors to have excelled in poetry
and music, particularly the latter; and to have early cultivated the
lyre, in preference to every other instrument; so that all those who
came after him were contented to be his imitators; whereas he
adopted no model, says Plutarch; for before his time no other
music was known, except a few airs for the flute. Music was so
closely connected in ancient times with the most sublime sciences,
that Orpheus united it not only with philosophy, but with theology.
He abstained from eating animal food, and held eggs in abhorrence
as aliment, being persuaded that the egg subsisted ^ before the
chicken, and was the principle of all existence : both his knowledge
and prejudices, it is probable, were acquired in Egypt, as well as
those of Pythagoras, many ages after.
With respect to his abstaining from the flesh of oxen, Gesner
supposes it to have proceeded from the veneration shewn to that
animal, so useful in tillage, in the Eleusinian mysteries, instituted
in honour of Ceres, the Goddess of Agriculture. He might have
added that, as these mysteries were instituted in imitation of those
established in Egypt, in honour of Osiris and Isis, this abstinence
from animal food was of the like origin, and a particular compliment
to Apis. But the abb6 Fraguier, in an ingenious Dissertation upon
the Orphic Life (g), gives still more importance to the prohibition;
for as Orpheus was the legislator and humanizer of the wild and
savage Thracians, who were canibals, a total abolition of eating
human flesh could only be established by obliging his countrymen
to abstain from that of everything that had life.
With respect to theology, Diodorus Siculus tells us, that his
father Oeagrus gave him his first instructions in religion, imparting
to him the mysteries of Bacchus, as they were then practised in
Thrace. He became afterwards a disciple of the Idsei Dactyli in
Crete, and there acquired new ideas concerning religious ceremonies.
But nothing contributed so much to his skill in theological matters
as his journey into Egypt, where being initiated into the mysteries
(g) Mem. des Inscrip. torn. v. p. 117
262
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
of Isis and Osiris, or of Ceres and Bacchus, he acquired a knowledge
concerning initiations, expiations, funeral rites, and other points of
religious worship, far superior to any one of his age and country.
And being much connected with the descendants of Cadmus, the
founder of Thebes in Bceotia, he resolved, in order to honour their
origin, to transport into Greece the whole fable of Osiris, and apply
it to the family of Cadmus. The credulous people easily received
this tale, and were much flattered by the institution of the cere-
monies in honour of Osiris. Thus Orpheus, who was held in great
veneration at the Grecian Thebes, of which he was become a citizen,
admirably adapted this fable, and rendered it respectable, not only
by his beautiful verses, and manner of singing them, but by the
reputation he had acquired of being profoundly skilled in all
religious concerns.
At his return into Greece, according to Pausanias (k), he was
held in the highest veneration by the people, as they imagined he
had discovered the secret of expiating crimes, purifying criminals,
curing diseases, and appeasing the angry Gods. He formed and
promulgated an idea of a hell, from the funeral ceremonies of the
Egyptians, which was received throughout all Greece (i). He
instituted the mysteries and worship of Hecate among the Eginetes
(k), and that of Ceres at Sparta.
Justin Martyr says, that he introduced among the Greeks near
three hundred and sixty Gods; Hesiod and Homer pursued his
labours, and followed the same clue, agreeing in the like doctrines,
having all drank at the same Egyptian fountain.
Profane authors look upon Orpheus as the inventor of that
species of magic, called evocation of the manes, or raising ghosts;
and indeed the hymns which are attributed to him are mostly pieces
of incantation, and real conjuration. Upon the death of his wife
Eurydice, he retired to a place in Thesprotia, called Aornos,
where an ancient oracle gave answers to such as evoked the dead.
He there fancied he saw his dear Eurydice, and at his departure
flattered himself that she followed him; but upon looking behind
him, and not seeing her, he was so afflicted, that he soon died of
grief (Q.*
There were persons among the ancients who made public
profession of conjuring up ghosts, and there were temples where the
ceremony of conjuration was to be performed. Pausanias (m)
speaks of that which was in Thesprotia, where Orpheus went to
call up the ghost of his wife Eurydice. It is this very journey,
(K) Lib. ix. cap. 30. (t) Diod. Sic. lib. i. (k) Pausan. lib. ii. cap. 30.
(Z) Ib. lib. ix. (m) In Boat.
* The Orphic beliefs are well worth study and amongst modem writers may be mentioned :—
BURY.— History of Greece, Chapter VII.
STEWART.— -The Myths of Plato.
JEVONS. — Introduction to the History of Religion.
ADAM'S.— Religious Teachers of Greece.
Cotterill in Ancient Greece (p. 282) says : " The Orphic teachings doubtless were associated with
much superstition and priestcraft, but, together with Pythagorean mysticism, they helped by their
imaginative parables to keep alive in the hearts of many the beliefs that lie at the root of all true
religion."
263
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
and the motive which put him upon it, that made it believed he
went down into hell.
But it is not only the poets who speak of conjuring up spirits;
examples of it are to be found both in sacred (n) and profane history.
Periander, the tyrant of Corinth [fi 625 B.C., 585 B.C.] visited
the Thesprotians, to consult his wife about something left with her
in trust; and we are told by the historians, that the Lacedaemonians
having starved Pausanius their general to death [470 B.C.] in the
temple of Pallas, and not being able to appease his manes, which
tormented them without intermission, sent for the magicians from
Thessaly, who, when they had called up the ghosts of his enemies, so
effectually put to flight the ghost of Pausanias, that it never more
chose to shew its face.
The poets have embellished this story, and given to the lyre of
Orpheus, not only the power of silencing Cerberus, and of suspend-
ing the torments of Tartarus, but also of charming even the
infernal deities themselves, whom he rendered so far propitious to
his entreaties, as to restore to him Eurydice, upon condition that
he would not look at her, till he had quitted their dominions; a
blessing which he soon forfeited, by a too eager and fatal affection.
All dangers past, at length the lovely bride
In safety goes, with her melodious guide;
Longing the common light again to share,
And draw the vital breath of upper air:
He first, and close behind him follow* d she,
For such was Proserpine's severe decree,
When strong desires th' impatient youth invade,
By little caution, and much love betray'd :
A fault which easy pardon might receive,
Were lovers judges, or could hell forgive.
For near the confines of etherial light,
And longing for the glimmering of a sight
Th' unwary lover cast a look behind,
Forgetful of the law, nor master of his mind.
Straight all his hopes exhal'd in empty smoke;
And his long toils were forfeit for a look.
DRYDEN'S Virgil (o).
Tzetzes (p) explains the fable of his drawing his wife Eurydice
from hell by his great skill in medicine, with which he prolonged her
life, or, in other words, snatched her from the grave, ^sculapius,
and other physicians have been said to have raised from the
dead those whom they had recovered from dangerous diseases.
The bishop of Gloucester, in his learned, ample, and admirable
account of the Eleusinian mysteries, says, " While these mysteries
(n) Witch of Endor, i Sam. chap, xrviii ver. n aad 12.
(o) Georgic IV.
(£) Chiliad. I. Hist. 54- He flourished about 1170.
264
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
were confined to Egypt, their native country, and while the
Grecian law-givers went thither to be initiated, as a kind of designa-
tion to their office, the ceremony would be naturally described
in terms highly allegorical. — This way of speaking was used by
Orpheus, Bacchus, and others; and continued even after the
mysteries were introduced into Greece, as appears by the fables of
Hercules, Castor, Pollux, and Theseus's descent into hell; but}
the allegory was so circumstanced, as to discover the truth con-
cealed under it. So Orpheus is said to get to hell by the power
of his harp.
Threicia fretus cithara, fidibusque canons.
VIRG. Mn. VI. ver. 119.
that is in quality of law-giver; the harp being the known symbol
of his laws, by which he humanized a rude and barbarous people —
Had an old poem, under the name of Orpheus, entitled A
Descent into Hell been now extant, it would perhaps have shewn
us, that no more was meant than Orpheus's initiation."
Many ancient writers in speaking of his death, relate, that the
Thracian women, enraged at being abandoned by their husbands,
who were disciples of Orpheus, concealed themselves in the woods,
in order to satiate their vengeance; and, notwithstanding they
postponed the perpetration of their design some time through fear,
at length, by drinking to a degree of intoxication, they so far
fortified their courage as to put him to death. And Plutarch (q)
assures us, that the Thracians stigmatized their women, even in
his time, for the barbarity of this action (r).
Our venerable bard is defended by the author of the Divine
Legation, from some insinuations to his disadvantage in Diogenes
Laertius. "It is true," says he, " if uncertain report was to be
believed, the mysteries were corrupted very early; for Orpheus
himself is said to have abused them. But this was an art the
debauched mystae of later times employed to varnish their enormi-
ties; as the detested pederasts of after-ages, scandalized the blame-
less Socrates. Bes;des, the story is so ill-laid, that it is detected
by the surest records of antiquity : for in consequence of what they
fabled of Orpheus in the mysteries, they pretended he was torn in
pieces by the women; whereas it appeared from the inscription on
his monument at Dium in Macedonia, that he was struck dead with
lightning, the envied death of the reputed favourites of the Gods."
This monument, at Dium, consisting of a marble urn on a
pillar, was still to be seen in the time of Pausanias. It is said, how-
ever, that his sepulchre was removed from Libethra, upon mount
(?) De Ser. Num. Vind.
(r) It is related, that after he had been torn to pieces by the Thracian women, his lyre, happen-
ing to fall into the Hebrus during the scuffle, was carried to Lesbos, where it was taken op
and deposited in the temple of Apollo. But, according to Lucian, Neanthus, the son of Pittacus the
tyrant, bought it af terwaids of the priests, imagining, that by merely touching this instrument, be
should draw after him trees, and rocks ; it is true he succeeded no otherwise than by provoking the
dogs ia the neighbourhood to tear him to pieces. But though he could not share the fame, he shared
the fate of the unfortunate Orpheus.
365
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Olympus, where Orpheus was born, and was thence transferred
to Dium by the Macedonians, after the ruin of Libethra, by a
sudden inundation, which a dreadful storm had occasioned. This
event is very minutely related by Pausanias (s).
Virgil bestows the first place in his Elysium upon the legislators,
and those who brought mankind from a state of nature into society :
Magnanimi heroes, nati melioribus annis.
At the head of these is Orpheus, the most renowned of the European
law-givers; but better known under the character of poet : for the
first laws being written in measure, to allure men to learn them,
and, when learnt, to retain them, the fable would have it, that by
the force of harmony, Orpheus softened the savage inhabitants of
Thrace:
-Threlcius longa cum veste sacerdos
Obloquitur numeris septem discrimina vocum:
Jamque eadem digitis, jam pectine pulsat eburno (t).
lib. vi. ver. 645.
The seven strings given by the poet in this passage to the lyre
of Orpheus, is a circumstance somewhat historical. The first Mer-
curian lyre had, at most, but four strings. Others were afterwards
added to it by the second Mercury, or by Amphion; but, according
to several traditions preserved by Greek historians, it was Orpheus
who completed the second tetrachord, which extended the scale to
a heptachord, or seven sounds, implied by the septem discrimina
vocum: for the assertion of many writers, that Orpheus added two
new strings to the lyre, which before had seven, clashes with the
claims of Pythagoras to the invention of the octachord, or addition
of an eighth sound to the heptachord, which made the scale consist
of two disjunct, instead of two conjunct tetrachords, and of which
almost all antiquity allows him to have been the inventor. Nor is
it easy to suppose, that the lyre should have been represented in
ancient sculpture with four or five strings only, if it had had nine so
(s) Z&.ix.
m (t) It is curious to observe how inaccurately the most elegant writers, and sublime poets, speak of
subjects for which they have no taste, and in which they have acquired no knowledge. Our great
poet, Dryden, though he has extended Virgil's three lines 'into four, has but ill expressed the original.
The Thracian bard surrounded by the rest,
There stands conspicuous in his flowing vest ;
His flying fingers, and harmonious quill,
Strike seven distinguished notes, and sev'n at once they fill
The latter part of this last verse says nothing to a musician, and, indeed, but little to any one else
the four fingers and thumb of one hand, and the plectrum in the other, could fill at most but six notes
Mr, Pitt is still more unhappy in his version :
There Orpheus, graceful in his long attire,
^ Now, a dfoision is, unluckily, a technical term in music which implies a rapid flight, either with a
voice <*r instrument: when applied to singing, it tells us that a great number of notes are given to one
syllable ; but we are as certain as we can be about anv thing that concerns ancient music, that neither
{hGreeklS2L?0mansAad d£er ** ?ord « thing ih the sense which we annex to diSSl^SdS*
but an aukward way of describing an instrument with seven distinct strings, or sounds, to say that it
tod seven divisions. It seems as if the poet meant no more, bv the whole passage, than that " the
"
266
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
early as the time of Orpheus, who flourished long before sculpture
was known in Greece (u).
Orpheus is mentioned by Pindar in his 4th Pythic. The passage
is curious: " Orpheus/' says he, speaking of the Argonauts, "joins
these heroes; Orpheus father of the lyre and of song; Orpheus whom
the whole universe celebrates, and whose sire is Apollo." Herodotus
likewise speaks of the Orphic mysteries (x). His hymns, says
Pausanias, were very short, and but few in number; the Lycomides,
an Athenian family, knew them by heart, and had an exclusive
privilege of singing them, and those of their old poets, Musaeus,
Onomacritus, Pamphus, and Olen, at the celebration of the Eleu-
sinian mysteries; that is, the priesthood was hereditary in this
family (y).
lamblicus tells us, that the poems under the name of Orpheus
were written in the Doric dialect, but have since been trans-
dialected, or modernized. It was the common opinion in antiquity
that they were genuine; but even those who doubted of it, gave
them to the earliest Pythagoreans, and some of them to Pythagoras
himself, who has frequently been called the follower of Orpheus,
and been supposed to have adopted many of his opinions (z).
If I have selected with too much sedulity and minuteness what-
ever ancient and modern writers furnish relative to Orpheus, it
has been occasioned by an involuntary zeal for the fame of this
musical and poetical patriarch; which, warm at first, grew more
and more heated in the course of enquiry; and, stimulated by the
respect and veneration which I found paid to him by antiquity, I
became a kind of convert to this mystagogue, and eagerly aspired
(«*) What is here said concerning the progressive improvements of instrumental music, must be
wholly confined to Greece ; for proofs have already been given of the Egyptians having been in posses*
sion of more perfect instruments than those just mentioned, long before the time when Orpheus is
supposed to have nourished.
(x) Pindar was born 521 B.C. and Herodotus 484. Euripides and Aristophanes both quote
Orpheus ; the tragedian was born 477 years B.C. and the comic poet was his cotemporary. Besides
these, Apolonius Rhodius, Horace, Virgil, Ovid, Valerius Flaccus, among the poets ; and Plato,
Isocrates, Diodorus Siculus, Pausanias, Apollodorus, Hyginus, Plutarch, and many other philosophers
historians, and mythologists, cite his works, and speak of him, without throwing the least doubt upon
his existence.
(y) Suidas gives to Orpheus a son, of the name of Leos, whom Pausanias makes the head of one
of the great Athenian tribes ; who, by the counsel of the oracle, devoted his three daughters,
Aecueopat, Pasithea, Theope, and Eubule, to the safety of the state.
(x) Of the poems that are still subsisting under the name of Orpheus, which were collected and
published at Nuremberg, 1702, by Andr. Christ. Eschenbach, and which have been since reprinted at
Leipsic, 1764, under the title of OP*EQ2 AQANTA, several have been attributed to
Onomacritus, an Athenian, who nourished under the Pisistratida, about 500 years B.C. Their titles
are: —
I. The Argonautics, an epic poem.
II. Eighty-six hymns, which are so full of incantations and magical evocation, that Daniel
Heinsius has called them veram satana liturgiant the true liturgy of the devil. Pausanias, who made
no doubt that the hymns subsisting in his time were composed by Orpheus, tells us, that, though less
elegant, they had been preferred, for religious purposes, to those of Homer.
III. De Lapidibus, a poem on precious stones.
TV. Fragments, collected by Henry Stevens.
Orpheus has been called the inventor, or at least the propagator, of many arts and doctrines
among the Greeks.
i. The combination of letters, or the art of writing. z. Music, the lyre, or cithaza, of seven strings,
adding three to that of Mercury. 3. Hexameter verse. 4. Mysteries and Theology. 5. Medicine.
6. Magic and Divination. 7. Astrology. Servius upon the sixth Mneid, p. 450, says Orpheus first
instituted the harmony of the spheres. 8. He is said likewise to have been the first who imagined a
plurality ofworldst or that the moon and planets were inhabited.
267
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
at initiation into his mysteries— in order to reveal them to my
readers.
MUS^EUS is more celebrated by ancient writers as a philosopher,
astronomer, epic poet, and priest of Ceres, than as a musician; how-
ever, he lived in so remote a period, and has so far survived his
contemporaries, that he is one of the few melancholy remains of his
age, of which posterity has cherished the memory; he therefore
cannot, without injustice, be omitted: for whoever looks into the
ingenious and well-digested biographical chart of Dr. Priestley, will
find Linus, Orpheus, and Musseus, placed in such barren regions of
history, that, like the once beautiful cities of Palmyra and Balbec,
they now stand in a desert; but great and exalted characters are
buoyed up by time, and resist the stream of oblivion, which soon
sweeps away all such as have not eminently distinguished
themselves.
Musaeus, according to Plato and Diodorus Siculus, was an
Athenian, the son of Orpheus, and chief of the Eleusinian mysteries,
instituted at Athens in honour of Ceres; or, according to others,
he was only the disciple of Orpheus; but from the great resemblance
which there was between his character and talents, and those of his
master, by giving a stronger outline to the figure, he was called
his son, as those were styled the children of Apollo, who cultivated
the arts, of which he was the titular God.
Musseus is allowed to have been one of the first poets who
versified the oracles. He is placed in the Arundelian marbles,
Epoch 15, 1426 B.C., at which time his hymns are there said to
have been received in the celebration of the Eleusiniaji mysteries.
Laertius tells us (a), that Musseus not only composed a Theogony,
but formed a Sphere for the use of his companions; yet, as this
honour is generally given to Chiron, it is more natural to suppose,
with Sir Isaac Newton, that he enlarged it with the addition of
several constellations after the conquest of the Golden Fleece. The
sphere ^itself shows that it was delineated after the Argonautic
expedition, which is described in the asterisms, together with several
other more ancient histories of the Greeks, and without any thing
later: for the ship Argo was the first long vessel which they had
built; hitherto they had used round ships of burthen, and kept
within sight of the shore: but now, by the dictates of the oracle,
and consent of the princes of Greece, the flower of that country
sail rapidiy through the deep, and guide their ship by the stars (6).
MUSCBUS is celebrated by Virgil in the character of Hierophant,
or priest of Ceres, among the most illustrious mortals who have
merited a place in Elysium. Here he is made the conductor of
^Eneas to the recess, where he meets the shade of his fether,
Anchises (c).
A hill near the citadel of Athens was called Musseum, according
to Pausanias, from Musaeus, who used to retire thither to meditate,
(a) Proem. K6. i. (b) Chronol. of the Greeks, p. 84.
(c) Mus&um ante omnes.—En. lib. vi ver. 667.
263
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
and compose his religious hymns, and at which place he was after-
wards buried. The works which went under his name, like those of
Orpheus, were by many attributed to Onomacritus. Nothing
remains of this poet now, nor were any of his writings extant in
the time of Pausanias, except a hymn to Ceres, which he made for
the Lycomides (d). And as these hymns were likewise set to
music, and sung in the mysteries by Musaeus himself, in the
character of a priest, he thence, perhaps, acquired from future
times the title of musician, as well as of poet, the performance of
sacred music being, probably, at first confined to the priesthood in
these celebrations, as it had been before in Egypt, whence they
originated. However, he is not enumerated among ancient
musicians by Plutarch ; nor does it appear that he merited the
title of son and successor to Orpheus for his musical abilities, so
much as for his poetry, piety, and profound knowledge in religious
mysteries. But notwithstanding the numberless testimonies come
down to us from the best and most ancient writers of Greece and
Rome, concerning Linus, Orpheus, and Mus&us, Vossius, in the
true spirit of system, and licentiousness of an etymologist, as well
as from an ambition of being thought deeply versed in the Eastern
languages, particularly the Phoenician, pretends to resolve those
names, which have been known and revered by all antiquity, into
words signifying things, not persons: as Linos, a Song ; Mosa,
art, discipline ; Orpheo, Science. But if this fancy were generally
practised upon ancient authors, there would be little chance of one
among them escaping annihilation (e).
Though Eumolpus and Melampus are names which frequently
occur among those of the first poets and musicians of Greece, it
does not appear that they rendered music any particular service ;
they were both, indeed, priests of Ceres, and both wrote hymns
for the use of her worship, which, perhaps, they likewise set to music,
and sung themselves, in the celebration of the mysteries ; but
there are no memorials of their performance upon the instruments
then in use, or cultivation of music, apart from its affiance with
poetry and religion.
Eumolpus, according to the Oxford marbles, was the son of
Musseus*, and, at once, priest, poet, and musician, three characters
that were constantly united in the same person, during the first
ages of the world. He was the publisher of his father's verses,
(d) There were two other poets in antiquity of the name of Musaeus, of which one was a Theban
the son of Philammon and Thamyra, who, according to Suidas, flourished before the Trojan war ; the
other, who was much younger, and an Ephesian, is supposed by many to have been the author of a
poem still extant, called Hero and Leander, from which Ovid enriched his epistle, that bears the same
title.
(e) De Art. Poet. Nat. cap. xiii. § 3. Ptfto .enim, triumviros tsfos po&tos, Orphea. Musaaum,
Linum, non fuisse : sed esse nomina ab awtitua Phanicum lingua, qua, usi Cadmus, et ali -uandiu
posteri. Sane Aivo? carmen, sive canticum, ac precipue lugubre : vt ex Athenao, Evstatio, Suida
constat. Nomen, vt puto, non quia Linum eo deplorarent quod grammaticum est commentum ; sed ab
Hebrao btl, helin, murmurare, unde rOlPfl, telounah, querela munnuratio. Vt Linus nomen
Poet* sit lugubria canentis. Musseus absque dubio d Musa, swe Mwro, quod 4 ^D1 D, Mosar, ars, disd-
plina. Orfrwttidem devote nomen Jtabuerit, a Orseo.
* According to other accounts the son of Poisedon (Neptune) and Chidne.. His name means
" the good singer." _j_
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
and, like him, having travelled into Egypt for the acquisition of
knowledge, afterwards became so eminent at Athens, as hierophant
in the Eleusinian mysteries, that, as Diodorus Siculus informs us,
the priests and singers, at Athens, were afterwards called
Eumolpides, from Eumolpus, whom they regarded as the founder
of their order.
And we learn from the same writer, that Melampus* was
enumerated among those early civilizers of Greece, who thought it
necessary to travel into Egypt to qualify themselves for the high
employments at which they aspired in their own country. Orpheus
proceeded thence a legislator and philosopher ; and Melampus, who
had different views, commenced, at his return, physician and
diviner, arts which in Egypt were professed together. Apollodorus
says, that he was the first who cured diseases by medicinal potions.
Physic had its miraculous powers during the infancy of the art,
as well as music ; and life and health being esteemed more precious
and solid blessings than the transient pleasures of the ear, bore
a much higher price: for though bards were often distinguished
by royalty, and their talents recompensed by gifts and honours,
yet we do not find in ancient records that any one of them ever
experienced such munificence as Melampus. It is related by
Pausanias, that having cured the daughters of Praetus, king of
Argos, of an atrabilarious disorder, with hellebore, he was rewarded
with one of his royal patients for wife, and a third part of her
father's kingdom in dowry.
I now come to the TROJAN WAR,** the second important
epoch in the Grecian HistotTtJ^Antiquity has paid such respect
to the personages mentioned in the poems of Homer, as never to
have doubted of the real existence of any one of them. The poets
and musicians, therefore, who have been celebrated by this great
sire of song are ranked among the bards of Greece who flourished
about the time of the Trojan War, and of whose works, though
nothing entire remains, yet the names, and even fragments of some
of them are to be found in several ancient authors posterior to
Homer (g).
(f) In settling the time of this memorable event, though there is a considerable disagreement
among tie chronologexs, yet, hy stating the difference, and taking the mean, an idea may be formed
of the distance between that period and the Christian aera, when certain chronology begins, and the
disputes of historians concerning the dates of great events and transactions upon the globe, are
Dionysms HaUicarnassensis, book the first, tells us, from Cato, that Rome was built 432 years
after the taking of Troy, and the interval from the building of Rome to the birth of Christ according
4* ^^S15 ^i3^' ?tjl?0?5,tb? sieSe of Tr°J Il85 ac- which nearly reconciles the chronology
' £f ^^o^marbles, Archbishop Usher, and Dr. Blair. However, Sir Isaac Newton, who is followed
by Dr. Priestley, fixes this period only 904 B.C. and the building of Rome 627.
(|) Dr. Blair places the time when Homer nourished, about 900 B.C. Dr. Priestley 850 The
Arondelian marbles 300 after the taking of Troy, and near 1000 B.C. and all agree that he lived* above
400 years before Plato and Aristotle.
* The son of Amythapnand the introducer of the cult of Dionysus into Greece. He under-
stood the language of birds and by their help was able to foretell events.
have demonstrated some historical
ounaton or te omec epc. e ruins of several cities have been laid bare and some of th*» MI-IV
settlements date so far back as 2500 B.C. The epic Fall of Troy under Priam is to^tionSly ?ut
270
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
Homer was, in general, so accurate with respect to costume,
that he seldom mentioned persons or things that we may not
conclude to have been known during the times of which he writes ;
and it was Pope's opinion that his account of people, princes, and
countries, was purely historical, founded on the real transactions
of those times, and by far the most valuable piece of history and
geography left us concerning the state of Greece in that early period.
His geographical divisions of that country were thought so exact,
that we are told of many controversies concerning the boundaries
of Grecian cities, which have been decided upon the authority
of his poems.
The works of Homer were the bible of the Greeks : and what
classical reader will be so sceptical now as to doubt of what Homer
says? Indeed, as the first written memorials of human transactions
were in verse, Poetry must be History, till Prose can be found.
I shall, therefore, give a short account of each bard that is mentioned
in the Iliad and Odyssey, in order to fill up the interval between the
Argonautic expedition, and the regular celebration of the Olympic
games. But, previous to this, it may be necessary to take a
view of the state of Grecian arts and sciences in general, during this
early period, and, afterwards, to consider the use of music in par-
ticular, as far as it was connected with Religion, War, Poetry,
public Feasts and Banquets, and Private Life.
In the Odyssey, book the 17th, Homer speaks of arts in such
terms of respect and enthusiasm, as could only flow from a mind
truly sensible to their charms and utility.
Round the wide world are sought those men divine,
Who public structures raise, or who design ;
Those to whose eyes the gods their ways reveal,
Or bless with salutary arts to heal ;
But chief to Poets such respect belongs,
By rival nations courted for their songs ;
These states invite, and mighty kings admire,
Wide as the sun displays his vital fire.
" This is an evidence," says Mr. Pope, " of the great honour
anciently paid to persons eminent in mechanical arts: the archi-
tect and public artisans, 6ij?j,ioveyot, are joined with the prophet,
physician, and poet, who were esteemed almost with a religious
veneration, and looked upon as public blessings."
Homer certainly gives us higher ideas of the arts than the
Progress which the Greeks had made in them at the time of the
rojan war, or even in his own time, will allow: particularly
Painting. Pope, in speaking of the shield of Achilles, seems to
consider it as a complete idea of that art, and a sketch for what
may be called a universal picture ; but he is obliged to confess that
Homer in this, as in other arts, comprehended whatever was known
in his own time, and that it is even highly probably that he extended
his ideas yet further, and gave a more enlarged notion of it. For
271
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
there is scarce a species or branch of this art which is not to be found
in the description of this shield (A).
In support of this reasoning, Pope was obliged to oppose his
own opinion to that of all antiquity; forgetting that there was an
easier solution of the difficulties which lay in the way of his
hypothesis: for as Homer had travelled into Egypt, it may be
supposed that he had there acquired ideas of the arts in general,
far superior to those which his own country furnished; particularly
of painting, sculpture, and architecture, which we are certain,
from what still remains of them in Egypt, were cultivated, and
greatly advanced towards perfection, before the time of Homer,
or even the Trojan war; and this author, on another occasion,
allows him to have drawn his knowledge from that source.
" Magic," he says, " is supposed to have been first practised in
Egypt, and to have spread afterwards among the Chaldeans: It
is very evident that Homer had been in Egypt, where he might
hear an account of the wonders performed by it (i)."
With respect to music, we find it mentioned with a degree of
rapture in more than fifty places of the Iliad and Odyssey. How-
ever it is in such close union with poetry, that it is difficult
to discriminate to which the poet's praises belong. The lyre
indeed is constantly in the hands of the bard, but merely as an
instrument of accompaniment to the voice. So that I fear, music
and the lyre were frequently only vehicles through which Homer
celebrated the power of poetical numbers. Singing there is with-
out instruments, but of instrumental music without vocal, there
does not appear the least trace in the writings of Homer. Even
dancing was accompanied by the voice, according to the following
passage:
Then to the dance they form the vocal strain,
Till Hesperus leads forth the starry train (k).
It seems as if nothing would convey to the reader a more
just and clear idea of the state of music in the time of the Trojan
war or at least of Homer, than a list of the instruments mentioned
in the original; these are the lyre, the flute, and the syrinx (J).
The lyre has been called by translators, lute, harp, cithara, and
testudo, just as the convenience of versification required; and if
these and the lyre were not in ancient times one and the same
instrument, they were certainly all of the same kind (m).
(k) See Pope's Observations on the Shield of Achilles. Iliad. B. 18.
(t) Notes to the Odyssey, b. x.
(#) Odyssey, b. xv. See likewise b. iv. v. 25.
(/) Indeed the word Avpa, lyre, never occurs in the Iliad or Odyssey. $0p/uv£. iciflaoa veXv?
ars in Homer the Greek names for stringed instruments answering to lyre, harp, oitfara, chelys or
testudo. Avpo, however occurs in the hymn to Mercury, attributed to Homer. '
(m\ Eustathius tells us that the appellation of Xupa came from Avrpa, a payment, or
indemnification, alluding to its having been given by Meicury to Apollo, to make him amends for the
oxen that he had stolen from him. The instrument, long before it received this name, was called
XiAw, chelys, testudo. This seems to furnish a fanciful etymology for the lute, which is certainlv
a much more modern instrument than, the harp or lyre. *
272
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
The flute and syrinx have already been said to be of Egyptian
origin, and of great antiquity. These instruments are specified
by Homer in a passage where they do not appear in Pope's
version.
Now o'er the fields, dejected, he surveys
From thousand Trojan fires the mounting blaze;
Hears in the passing wind the music blow,
And marks distinct file voices of the foe (n).
Under whatever idea or denomination the public worship of
the Supreme Being has been established, music appears, at all
times and in every place, to have been admitted in the celebration
of Religious Rites and Ceremonies. That the Greeks, and before
them the Egyptians and Hebrews, used music in solemn sacrifices,
as well as in festivals of joy, is so certain and well known, that
proofs are here unnecessary. A passage has already been cited
from the Iliad, on another occasion, page 158, which puts the
use of hymns and songs of piety in supplicating Apollo, out of
doubt; and, according to a passage given from JEschylus, by
Eustathius, notwithstanding the multiplicity of the Grecian divini-
ties, " Death was the only God who could neither be moved by
offerings, nor conquered by sacrifices and oblations; and therefore
he was the only one to whom no altar was erected, and no hymns
were sung (o)."
With respect to Military Music, the trumpet is mentioned by
Homer in a simile; yet it is agreed by all the critics, that it was
unknown to the Greeks during the Trojan war, though it was in
common use in the time of the poet. According to archbishop
Potter (p), before the invention of trumpets, the first signals of
battle in primitive wars were lighted torches; to these succeeded
shells of fishes, which were sounded like trumpets. " Nothing
is more useful/* says Plutarch, " than music, to stimulate man-
kind to virtuous actions, particularly in exciting that degree of
courage, which is necessaiy to brave the dangers of war. To this
end some have used the Flute, and others the Lyre. The
Lacedaemonians, in approaching the enemy, played upon the Flute,
the air or melody that was set to the song or hymn addressed to
Castor; and the Cretans played their military marches for many
ages on the Lyre.'1 The Thebans and Lacedaemonians had a Flute
upon their ensigns; the Cretans, a Lyre; and many ancient nations
and cities have impressed the Lyre upon their coins, as their parti-
cular symbol. The city of Rhegium, for instance, had a woman's
head on one side, and on the reverse a Lyre. In a medal inscribed
Caleno, the Minotaur is seen, with the addition of the Lyre. The
(n) "AvXwv, crvpiyycov r'evoinjv, 6/iaSov roLvdpunruv. U. K, 13.
(o) Movos 0ea>v Qa.va.rtt ov fiwpwv epa,
OvS* av TI Qwv, ovB eirunrevStdv XajSots,
Ov8* eon £<•>/«>?, ovSf 7ra««w<rr<u.
(P) Archesologia Gresca, vol. II, ch. ix.
VOL. i. 18
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Thespians had one of the Muses and a Lyre\ the Lapithae, a Diana,
and on the reverse a Lyre] the isle of Chios, Homer on one side,
and on the other a Sphynx, with a Lyre in its paw. The inhabi-
tants of the isle of Tenedos had on one side of their coins a head
with two faces, and on the reverse an ax with a bunch of grapes,
the symbol of Bacchus, near it on one side; and a Lyre, the symbol
of Apollo, on the other. The Lyre with thirteen strings is likewise
to be seen on two Roman coins in Montfaucon (q). We find,
during the siege of Troy, that Heralds gave the signals of battle.
Nestor says to Agamemnon before an engagement:
Now bid thy Heralds sound the loud alarms,
And call the squadrons sheath' d in brazen arms (r).
The vociferous Stentor is celebrated by Homer as the most
illustrious Throat-performer, or herald of antiquity :
Stentor the strong, endued with brazen lungs,
Whose throat surpass d the noise of fifty tongues (s).
Pope observes on this passage, that " there was a necessity
for cryers whose voices were stronger than ordinary, in those
ancient times, before the use of trumpets was known in their
armies. And that they were in esteem afterwards, may be seen
from Herodotus, where he takes notice that Darius had in his
train an Egyptian, whose voice was louder and stronger than that
of any other man of his age."
That Poetry was inseparable from Music, has already been
frequently observed; and in the time of Homer as a poet was
constantly styled a singer, so there was no other appellation for a
poem, but that of song. I shall only select one passage here, from
among the many that are to be found in the Iliad and Odyssey,
relative to the union of sound and sense. Agamemnon meeting
with Achilles in the shades, relates to him how much his fall had
been lamented by the Grecians at Troy :
Round thee, the Muses, with alternate strain,
In ever consecrating verse complain.
Each warlike Greek the moving music hears,
And iron-hearted heroes melt in tears (£). .
Among the numerous public feasts and banquets described by
Homer, there is not one without music and a bard. And, accord-
ing to the ideas of that poet, the Gods themselves upon such
(?) Suppl. p. M.
(r) II. book ii.
(s) Ibid, book v.
(0 Odyss. book xxiv. ver. 77.
274
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
occasions, receive delight from the voice and lyre of Apollo and the
Vluses.
Thus the blest Gods the genial day prolong
In feasts ambrosial, and celestial song;
Apollo tun'd the lyre (w), the Muses round
With voice alternate aid the silver sound (x).
Again, in the last book of the Iliad, Juno, speaking of the
wedding of Peleus and Thetis, and exercising her irrascible
disposition upon almost all the celestial synod, says,
To grace those nuptials, from the blest abode
Yourselves were present where this minstrel God (y),
Well pleas'd to share the feast, amid the choir
Stood proud to hymn, and tune his youthful lyre.
The banquet, on the arrival of Telemachus at the palace of
Menelaus in Sparta, is thus described.
While this gay friendly troop the king surround,
With festival and mirth the roofs resound:
A bard amid the joyous circle sings
High airs, attemper 'd to the vocal strings (z).
To these I shall only add the following comprehensive panegyric
upon poetry and music, which Homer has put into the mouth of the
wise Ulysses.
How sweet the products of a peaceful reign 1
The heav'n-taught poet, and enchanting strain:
The well filTd palace, the perpetual feast,
A land rejoicing, and a people blest.
How goodly seems it ever to employ
Man's social days in union and in joy!
The plenteous board, high heap'd with cates divine,
And o'er the foaming bowl, the laughing wine (a).
It is true, that these verses are addressed to the voluptuous king
of an effeminate people; but Pope has so well defended our author
from the attacks of sour critics, that I shall give an extract from
'his note on this passage, as his sentiments correspond exactly with
my own feelings.
" It is not impossible," says he, " but there may be some com-
pliance with the nature and manners of the Phaeacians, especially
because Ulysses is always described as an artful man, not without
(«) It is worthy of remark, that the instrument assigned by the poet to Apollo is, in the original,
invariably called $opiu.y$, which is the appellation given to it by Pindar. This has been sup-
posed to be an Egyptian word, and perhaps was that by which the Theban harp, or lyre, was called.
See p. 182.
(V) Iliad, lib. I
(y} Apollo. In modern language she would hayejqaJIed him the fiddling God.
fa) Ojyssey, book iv. ver. jji. (a) Odyssey* book ix. ver. 3.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
some mixture of dissimulation : but it is no difficult matter to take
the passage literally, and yet give it an irreproachable ^ sense.
Ulysses had gone through innumerable calamities; he had lived to
see a great part of Europe and Asia laid desolate by a bloody war;
and after so many troubles, he arrives in a nation that was unac-
quainted with all the miseries of war, where all the people were
happy, and passed their lives in ease and pleasures: this calm life
fills him with admiration, and he artfully praises what he found
praiseworthy in it; namely, the entertainments and music, and
passes over the gallantries of the people, as Dacier observes, with-
out any mention. Maximus Tyrius fully vindicates Homer. " It is
my opinion," says that author, " that the poet, by representing
these guests in the midst of their entertainments delighted with the
song and music, intended to recommend a more noble pleasure
than eating and drinking; such a pleasure as a wise man may
imitate, by approving the better part, and rejecting the worse, and
chusing to please the ear rather than the belly." Dissert, xii. If
we understand the passage otherwise, the meaning may be this.
" I am persuaded," says Ulysses, " that the most agreeable end
which a king can propose, is to see a whole nation in universal joy.
When music and feasting are in every house, when plenty is on
every table, and there are wines to entertain every guest : this to
me appears a state of the greatest felicity." In this sense Ulysses
pays Alcinous a very agreeable compliment; as it is certainly the
most glorious aim of a king to make his subjects happy, and diffuse
an universal joy through his dominions : he must be a rigid censor
indeed, who blames such pleasures as these, which have nothing
contrary in them to virtue and strict morality; especially as they
here bear a beautiful opposition to all the horrors which Ulysses
had seen in the wars of Troy, and shew Phaeacia as happy as Troy
was miserable. I will only add, that this agrees with the oriental
way of speaking; and in the poetical parts of the Scriptures, the
voice of melody, feasting and dancing, are used to express the
happiness of a nation (6)."
The use of music, in private life, occurs so frequently in Homer,
that, beautiful as his descriptions of it are, I should fear to tire
the reader if I gave them all. However, some of them are of too
much importance to the subject to be past unnoticed. Among
these, for the honour of music, it must be remarked, that he
thought it so much an accomplishment for princes, as to make both
Achilles and Paris performers on the lyre.
r _ — — _ rf — 0 _ f , . z chose to pass for a friend and admirer of music. He wrote
a charming ode on StCecilia, because his model, Dryden, had written one before on the same subject :
Si!? ?*-a * ^P^^y °* music in his note on Homer, out of regard and veneration for his author^
wnom he is to defend on all occasions. But nothing is more certain than that Pope was by nature
wholly insensible to the charms of music, and took every opportunity of throwing contempt upon
those who either cultivated, or listened to it with delight. HVasked his friend Dr. ArbuthnoL whose
nerves were more tuneable than his own, whether at lord Burlington's concerts, the rapture which
SS^^Sf117 SXPT? UP°\ hearin8uther compositions and performance of Handel, did Sot proceed
wrftl^ST??0^11 \ J ??y there£ore aPPlv to p°Pe ™ defence of music, what this admirable
wror himself says of de la Mott^when he speaks favourably of Homer : that " no praise can be more
glorious than that which comes from the mouth of an enemy." Iliad, book ix. note on verse 395.
276
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
In the solemn embassy sent by Agamemnon to Achilles, during
his retirement, after he had quitted the Grecian camp in disgust,
it is said by Homer of the delegates, that
Amus'd at ease, the godlike man they found,
Pleas' d with the solemn harp's harmonious sound.
(The well-wrought harp from conquer 'd Thebae came,
Of polish'd silver was its costly frame;)
With this he sooths his angry soul, and sings
Th' immortal deeds of heroes and of kings (c).
Paris when he declined the combat with Menelaus, is upbraided
by Hector for his beauty, effeminacy, and fondness for dress, and
for music.
Thy graceful form instilling soft desire,
Thy curling tresses, and thy silver lyre (£).
"It is ingeniously remarked by Dacier," says Pope, " that
Homer, who celebrates the Greeks for their long hair, and Achilles
for his skill on the harp, makes Hector hi this place object them
both to Paris. The Greeks nourished their hair to appear more
dreadful to the enemy, and Paris to please the eyes of women.
Achilles sung to his harp the acts of heroes, and Paris the amours of
lovers. The same reason which made Hector here displeased at
them, made Alexander afterwards refuse to see this lyre of Paris
when offered to be shewn to him, as Plutarch relates the story
in his oration of the fortune of Alexander."
Not only the heroes of Homer are musical, but some of his
divinities, particularly Calypso and Circe; both of whom are found
singing by Hermes and Ulysses (e). And a still further confirma-
tion of the importance of music in the opinion of Homer is, that
it has a place in four of the twelve compartments into which his
description of the shield of Achilles has been divided by the critics.
1. A town in peace :
Here sacred pomp, and genial feast delight,
And solemn dance, and hymeneal rite:
Along the street the new made brides are led,
With torches flaming to the nuptial bed ;
The youthful dancers in a circle bound
To the soft flute, and cittern's silver sound (/).
(c) Iliad, book ix.
(d) Ibid, book iii. I know not whether it has ever been remarked, that in the original the instru-
ment used by Achilles is called by the same name, 4opfuy£, as that which the poet always gives to
Apollo ; and that with which Hector upbraids Paris, which in the translation is styled the silver lyre,
is called *i0apa by Homer. This distinction may perhaps be thought of small importance, and
yet it seems to constitute the same kind of difference between the two instruments, as there was
between the two heroes who used them ; the ritJiara may hi ancient times have been thought inferior
to the phorwinx, as the modern guitar is esteemed at present a trivial and effeminate instrument,
when compared with the double harp.
(,?) Odys. book v. and x.
{/) Iliad, book xviiL
377
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
2. Shepherds piping on reeds (g) :
S. Song and dance accompanied by the lyre, during the time
of vintage (h).
4. A figur'd dance succeeds : such one was seen
In lofty Gnossus, for the Cretan queen,
Form'd by Daedalean art ; a comely band
Of youths and maidens, bounding hand in hand ;
The maids in soft cymarrs of linen drest ;
The youths all graceful in the glossy vest ;
Of those, the locks with fiow'ry wreath enroll' d ;
Of these, the sides adorn' d with swords of gold,
That, glitt'ring gay, from silver belts depend.
Now all at once they rise, now all descend,
With well-taught feet: now shape, in oblique ways,
Confus'dly regular the moving maze:
Now forth at once, too swift for sight they spring,
And undistinguish'd blend the flying ring:
So whirls a wheel, in giddy circle tost,
And rapid as it runs, the single spokes are lost.
The gazing multitudes admire around ;
Two active tumblers in the centre bound ;
Now high now low, their pliant limbs they bend,
And general songs the sprightly revel end (f).
Dancing, like poetry, has been at all times, and in all places,
so inseparable from music, that the history of the one necessarily
involves that of the other. It was this union which tempted me
to insert the whole description of a dance from Homer, as it paints
in so ample and animated a manner, the state of dancing in Greece
during his time.
Pope, in his notes on this passage, says, that " there were
two sorts of dances, the Pyrrhic, and the common dance : Homer
has joined both in this description. We see the Pyrrhic, or military,
is performed by youths who have swords on, the other by virgins
crowned with garlands.
" Here the ancient scholiast says, that whereas before it was the
custom for men and women to dance separately, the contrary
custom was afterwards brought in by seven youths, and as many
virgins, who were saved by Theseus from the labyrinth ; and that
this dance was taught them by Daedalus: to which Homer here
alludes
" It is worth observing, that the Grecian dance is still performed
in this manner in the oriental nations : the youths and maids dance
in a ring, beginning slowly ; by degrees the music plays a quicker
time, till at last they dance with the utmost swiftness : and, towards
the conclusion, they sing, as it is said here, in a general chorus."
In this manner, likewise, the religious dance of the dervishes is
performed in the Turkish mosques.
fe) Svpiy£t. (ft) Iliad, book xviii. (i) Ibid.
278
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
^ I have now to speak of the Bards, or Rhapsodists, whom the
writings of Homer have immortalized. Fabricius has given a list
of more than seventy poets, who were supposed to have flourished
before the time of Homer. Of twenty among these, fragments of
their writings are still to be found dispersed through Greek litera-
ture ; and near thirty of them have been celebrated by antiquity
as improvers of the art of music, and of musical instruments. I
should here insert the names of all these ante-Homerian musicians,
and relate what has been recorded concerning them in ancient
authors ,* but as the plan of my work is limited to two volumes, it
would be encroaching on that place which must be reserved for
persons and transactions of more modern times, and of greater
certitude. Indeed several of them have been mentioned already,
and as the rest may force themselves in my way during the course
of my narrative, I shall here confine myself to the bards of the
Iliad and Odyssey.
Among these, the seer TIRESIAS* seems the most ancient,
though he is only mentioned in the Odyssey, which relates no
events but such as happened to Ulysses after the Trojan war.
Music, Poetry, Prophecy, and the Priesthood, seem inseparable
employments in high antiquity (k). The Egyptians, Hebrews, and
early Greeks certainly united them : and, among the last, Orpheus,
Musaeus, Eumolpus, and Melampus, have been instanced already.
Tiresias was the most celebrated prophet in the Grecian annals.
Ulysses is ordered by Circe to consult him in the shades.
There seek the Theban bard deprived of sight,
Within irradiate with prophetic light (Z).
But, besides' the honour done to him by Homer, Sophocles
makes him act a venerable and capital part in his tragedy of
Oedipus. Callimachus ascribes to Minerva the gift of his superior
endowments; the pre-eminence of his knowledge is likewise
mentioned by Tully, in his first book of Divination (m). And not
only Tiresias is celebrated by Diodorus Siculus (»), but his daughter
Daphne,** who, like her father, was gifted with a prophetic spirit,
and was appointed priestess at Delphos. She wrote many oracles
in verse, whence Homer was reported to have taken several lines,
which he interwove in his poems. As she was often seized with a
divine fury, she acquired the title of Sibyl, which signifies enthusiast.
She is the first on whom it was bestowed: in after-times this
(ft) The priests in Roman catholic countries are still obliged by their function to cultivate music
as well as theology ; and most of the numerous musical treatises that have been printed in Italy, have
been composed by churchmen ; as those of Franchi'nus, Pietro Aaron, Zarlino, and Eircher.
(I) Odys. book ii.
(m) Ovid, in his Metamorphoses, gives a very jocular reason for the blindness and prophetic
knowledge of Tiresias, deriving them from a matrimonial contest between Jupiter and Juno.
(n) Lib. iv.
* Dr. Smith (Classical Dictionary) says : "The blind seer Tiresias, acts so prominent a part in
the mythical history of Greece, that there is scarcely any event with which he is not connected in some
way or other. There is a fine poem, " Tiresias," by Tennyson.
** Better known as Manto.
$79
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
denomination was given to several other females, that were sup-
posed to be inspired, and who uttered and wrote their predictions
in verse, which verse being sung, their function may be justly
said to unite the priesthood with prophecy, poetry, and music.
THAMYRTS is called bv Homer Ki&aoiaTys, one who plays on the
Citkara. Plutarch, in his Dialogue on Music, tells us, that he was
bom in Thrace, the country of Orpheus, and had the sweetest and
most sonorous voice of any bard of his time. He was the son of
Fhilammon, of whom mention has already been made. Homer,
in his Catalogue of Ships, where he speaks of the cities under the
dominion of Nestor, mentions Dorion as the place where Thamyris
contended with the Muses, whom he had the arrogance to challenge
to a trial of skill in poetry and music. The conditions and conse-
quences of this contention are fully described by the poet.
And Dorion, fam'd for Thamyris' disgrace,
Superior once of all the tuneful race,
Till, vain of mortals empty praise, he strove
To match the seed of cloud-compelling Jove!
Too daring bard ! whose unsuccessful pride
Th* immortal Muses in their art defy'd:
Th' avenging Muses of the light of day
Depriv'd his eyes, and snatch'd his voice away ;
No more his heav'nly voice was heard to sing,
His hand no more awak'd the silver string (o).
Homer availed himself of the popular story concerning the
blindness of Thamyris, and embellished it by his versification.
Probably the whole allegory of this blindness had its rise from his
having injured the organ of sight by too intense an application to
the study of music and poetry. And it is the opinion of Pausanias,
that there was no other difference between his misfortune and that
of Homer, than that Thamyris was wholly silenced by it, and
Homer, without being discouraged, continued his poetical and
musical occupation long after his blindness.
The same writer, however, informs us, that the painter
Polygnotus, in his celebrated picture of Ulysses* descent into hell,
which was preserved in the temple of Delphos, had represented
the wretched Thamyris with his eyes put out, his hair and beard
long and dishevelled, and his lyre broken and unstrung, lying at
his feet. It is certain too, according to Pausanias, that this bard
was not only the subject of painting and poetry, but of sculpture;
for he tells us, that among the statues with which mount Helicon
was decorated, he saw one of Thamyris, represented blind, and
holding a broken lyre in his hand.
According to Diodoras Siculus, he learnt music at the school of
Linus. Pliny tells us that he was the first who performed on an
instrument without the voice, or the first Solo player (p); and, if
(o) IZwd, book ii.
#) C tikard sine vpce cedn# primus. Canere with the Romans, applied to instruments, implied
only to play. To say, however .that a performer makes his instrument : &»*, is at present thi highest
encomium that can be bestowed upon hfrp.
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
we may credit Suidas, he was generally regarded as the eighth
among the epic poets who preceded Homer.
As to his works, which are wholly lost, antiquity has preserved
the names of several. Tzetzes mentions a Cosmogony, or creation
of the world, in 500 verses, and Suidas a Theogony in 3000;
perhaps both these writers speak of one and the same poem. He
was said chiefly to have excelled in the composition of hymns;
on which account the fanciful philosopher, Plato, compares him
with Orpheus; and as he makes the soul of this bard, after death,
pass into that of a swan, he fixes the residence of that of Thamyris
in a nightingale.
We only know his poem upon the War of the Titans by what
Plutarch tells us of it from Heraclides of Pontus. Clemens
Alexandrinus attributes to him the invention of the Dorian mode
or melody, which, if it could be proved, would be of more
importance to the present enquiries than the ascertaining his poetical
works. But this mode, it has been suggested already, was so
ancient, that it may well be imagined to have been brought out
of Egypt by the first invaders of Greece, who settled in that part
of it which was called Doria.
In speaking of DEMODOCUS, Homer has taken occasion to
exalt the character of poet and bard toTEe summit of human glory.
The hospitable king of the Phaeacians, in order to entertain
Ulysses, says,
Let none to strangers, honours due disclaim;
Be there Demodocus, the bard of fame,
Taught by the Gods to please, when high he sings
The vocal lay responsive to the strings (q).
Pope observes upon this passage, that Homer shews in how
great request music was held in the courts of all the eastern princes :
he gives a musician to Ithaca, another to Menelaus at Lacedsemon.
and Demodocus to Alcinous.
The herald now arrives, and guides along
The sacred master of celestial song:
Dear to the Muse! who gave his days to flow
With mighty blessings, mix'd with mighty woe :
With clouds of darkness quench'd his visual ray,
But gave him skill to raise the lofty lay.
High on a radiant throne, sublime in state,
Encircled by high multitudes he sate:
With silver shone the throne; his lyre well strung
To rapturous sounds, at hand Pontonous hung.
Before his seat a polish'd table shines,
And a full goblet foams with gen'rous wines:
His food a herald bore (r).
(q) Odyssey, book vffi. (r) Ibid.
28l
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
It has been generally thought, says Pope, that Homer
represents himself in the person of Demodocus. It is remarkable,
at least, that he takes very extraordinary care of his brother poet,
and introduces him as a person of great distinction. He calls him
in his book, the hero Demodocus: he places him on a throne
studded with silver, and gives him an herald for his attendant:
nor is he less careful to provide for his entertainment; he has a
particular table, and a capacious bowl set before him to drink
from, as often as he had a mind, as the original expresses it.
Some merry wits have turned the last circumstance into raillery,
and insinuate that Homer in this place, as well as in the former,
means himself in the person of Demodocus; an intimation that he
would not be displeased to meet with the like hospitality.
Then fir'd by all the Muse, aloud he sings
The mighty deeds of demi-gods and kings —
Touch* d at the song, Ulysses strait resigned
To soft affliction all his manly mind (s).
Homer several times in this book ascribes the song of Demodocus
to immediate inspiration ; and this supernatural assistance
reconciles it to human probability, says Pope, and the story
becomes credible, when it is supposed to be related by a Deity.
Aristotle, in his Poetics, commends this conduct as artful and
judicious; Alcinous, says he, invites Ulysses to an entertainment,
in order to amuse him, where Demodocus sings his actions, at
which he cannot refrain from tears, which Alcinous perceives, and
this brings about the discovery of Ulysses.
To cite all the praise which Homer in his Odyssey has
bestowed upon Demodocus, would be to transcribe the whole
eighth book. It may be worth observing that he sung and played
extempore.
The bard, advancing, meditates the lay (t).
And again:
0 more than man ! thy soul the Muse inspires,
And Phoebus animates with all his fires : "
For who by Phoebus uninformed could know
The woe of Greece, and sing so well the woe?
Just to the tale, as present at the fray,
Or taught the labours of the dreadful day:
The song recalls past horrors to my eyes,
And bids proud nion from her ashes rise («).
Here Ulysses himself ascribes the songs of Demodocus to
immediate inspiration; and Apollo is made the patron of the poets,
Eustathius observes, because he is the God of prophecy. He adds,
(s) Odyssey, book viiL (*} Ibid. (u) Odyssey^ book viii
282
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
that Homer in this passage, likewise, represents himself in the
person of Demodocus: it is he who wrote the war of Troy with
as much faithfulness, as if he had been present at it; it is he who
had little or no assistance from former relations of that story, and
consequently receives it from Apollo and the Muses. This is a
secret, but artful insinuation, that we are not to look upon the
Iliad as all fiction and fable, but in general as a real history,
related with as much certainty as if the poet had been present
at those memorable actions.
Homer, it is certain, has neglected nothing which can give
dignity and importance to this Bard. He never moves without a
herald; he has a distinguished place at the king's table; is helped
by Ulysses to the first cut; and
For him the goblet flows with wines, umnixt.
The following lines are so beautiful, and applicable to the
present subject, that I cannot help inserting them, though I have
already, perhaps, been too profuse of quotations; not with the
design of swelling the volume, or from a scarcity of other materials,
but because the passages interested me, and inclined me to hope,
that they would be equally striking to the reader (#).
The Bard a herald guides : the gazing throng
Pay low obeysance as he moves along:
Beneath a sculptur'd arch he sits enthron'd,
The peers encircling form an awful round.
Then from the chine, Ulysses carves with art
Delicious food, an honorary part;
This, let the master of the lyre receive,
A pledge of love ! 'tis all a wretch can give.
Lives there a man beneath the spacious skies,
Who sacred honours to the Bard denies?
The Muse the Bard inspires, exalts his mind;
The Muse indulgent loves th' harmonious kind.
If music be degenerated in these times, the honours conferred
upon musicians are likewise diminished : for though a vocal per-
former may acquire the trifling reward of fifty guineas a song, yet
we never hear of one being seated at a king's table, or even that any
modern Hero, or General, however inferior in fame and merit to
Ulysses, condescends to carve for him.
Indeed Homer, through the whole Odyssey, speaks with the
highest respect of the art which he himself loved, and in which he
so eminently excelled. Poets, says Eustathius, were ranked in the
(x) History can only consist of quotations, when, we write of times anterior to our own, or con*
ceming things of which we have not been eye-witnesses. In treating, therefore, every subject which
relates to antiquity, it is necessary to give the sentiments of those who have written upon it before,
either in support of our own assertions, or to confute those of others. And indeed all that is left for
an historian of ancient music, is to collect the scattered fragments, hints, and allusions, relative to it,
which occur in old authors ; to arrange them in chronological order, and to connect and explain them
by reflection and conjecture.
283.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
class of philosophers; and the ancients made use of them as pre-
ceptors in music and morality (y).
Demodocus is supposed by me same critic, and by others, to
have been the Bard, already mentioned (z), with whom Agamem-
non left Clytemnestra in charge. He was blind, as well as Tiresias,
Thamyris, and Homer. The instrument he played upon is called
in the Odyssey Phorminx. Plutarch (a) says, that he wrote the
destruction of Troy in verse, and the nuptials of Vulcan and Venus.
And Ulysses is said, by Ptolemy Hephaestion, to have gained the
prize at the Tyrrhene games, by singing the verses of Demodocus.
The last Bard of whom I shall give any account, among the
musicians that are celebrated by Homer, is PHEMIUS, whom
Eustathias calls a philosopher; a title lavished on the poets and
musicians of antiquity. The same scholiast calls him brother of
Demodocus, and says that he accompanied Penelope into Ithaca,
when she went thither to espouse Ulysses, in the same character of
Bard, as that in which his brother attended Clytemnestra. He was
the father-in-law of Homer, having married his mother Crytheis,
after the illegitimate birth of the great poet. This stoiy is circum-
stantially related by the author of the Life of Homer, ascribed to
Herodotus by Plutarch and others : though unjustly, according to
the opinion of Fabricius, and the best modern critics. But Eusta-
thius informs us, that under the name of Phemius, Homer meant to
celebrate one of his friends who was so called, and who had been
his preceptor; thence, figuratively, styled his father.
What kind of poets Homer saw in his own time, says Pope (6),
may be gathered from his description of Demodocus and Phemius,
whom he has introduced to celebrate his profession. Homer
seems particularly solicitous to preserve the honour of Phemius, by
informing us that he was pressed into the service of the suitors of
Penelope, for the amusement of whom he was obliged to exercise
his talents in the midst of riot and debauchery.
To Phemius was consigned the chorded lyre,
Whose hand reluctant touch' d the warbling wire:
Phemius, whose voice divine could sweetest sing
High strains responsive to the vocal string (c).
From the instructions which Penelope gives to the Bard, we
may, however, form some idea of the kind of songs that were
usually performed at the banquet of princes.
Phemius ! let acts of Gods, and heroes old,
What ancient Bards in hall and bow'r have told,
Attemper1 d to the lyre, your voice employ;
Such the pleas' d ear will drink with silent joy (d).
(y) But he tells TIS likewise, that these aotSoi were said by some writers to have had their
names from this circumstance ; is aifiota JXTJ e^oi/res ; exactly resembling the Italian singers.
" If this be true," says Pope, " it makes a great difference between the ancient and modern poets, and
is the only advantage that I know of which we have over them." This idea sufficiently qualifies a
Bard fox the office of guardian to the chastity of a frail princess, and puts him upon a footing with the
Chamberlains, the Ewovxot of ancient Persia, and other eastern countries.
(*) See page 152. (a) De Musica. (6) Essay on Homer, sect. ii.
(c) Odyssey, book i. (Q Odys. book i.
284
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
That poetry was regarded, during the time of Homer, as imme-
diate inspiration from the Gods, has been already remarked in
the preceding article : and it is evident that his bards sung extem-
pore, either upon a given subject, or one of their own choice; nor
does it ever appear that any of the poets or musicians, mentioned
by Homer, sung verses which had been previously written or
composed. And yet Homer makes Ulysses himself inform us, that
there was no convivial assembly without a Bard:
I see the smokes of sacrifice aspire,
And hear, what graces every feast, the lyre (e).
And in the twenty-second book of the Odyssey,
Phemius alone the hand of vengeance spar'd,
Phemius the sweet, the heav'n-instructed Bard.
The speech which he makes to the avenging Ulysses, in order
to deprecate his wrath, is so fine an eulogium upon poetry and
music in general, that I cannot better close this chapter than by
transcribing it entire.
0 king! to mercy be thy soul inclin'd,
And spare the Poet's ever gentle kind.
A deed like this thy future fame would wrong,
For dear to Gods and men is sacred song.
Self-taught I sing, by Heav'n, and Heav'n alone
The genuine seeds of poesy are sown;
And, what the Gods bestow, the lofty lay
To Gods alone, and God-like worth, we pay.
Save then the Poet, and thyself reward,
'Tis thine to merit, mine is to record (/).
(*) Ibid, book xviL
(/) It may be of some importance to music to remark here, that Pope, in his Life of Homer*
informs us, " The word Poet does not occur in all the writings of this author, nor was it known during
his time." We see it, however, very frequently in the translation, where the original only
Bard, Minstrel, Singer.
Chapter IV
Of the State of Music in Qreece, from the time
of Homer, till it was subdued by the Romans,
including the Musical Contests at the Public Qames
IT has been imagined, with great appearance of truth, that the
occupation of the first Poets and Musicians of Greece, very much
resembled that of the Bards among the Celts and Germans,
and the Scalds in Iceland and Scandinavia; Chanters, who
sung their works in great cities, and in the palaces of princes, where
they were treated with much respect, and regarded as inspired
persons. Such, at first, were likewise the Troubadours of Provence
and Languedoc, and the Minstrels of other countries, till they
became too numerous and licentious to create wonder or esteem.
However, it is well known that a great number of historical events
are preserved in the writings of these ancient poets; and that the
pictures they have left of the times when they flourished, are simple
and genuine. If the writings of the ancient Romancers, or
Troubadours of Greece, possessed the same merit, which we have
great reason to believe they did, the historians of after-times, who
had no other source to draw information from than their songs, did
well to avail themselves of such materials.
Unfortunately, for my present enquiries, from the time of Homer
till that of Sappho, there is almost a total blank in literature; for
though several names of poets and musicians are recorded between
those periods, yet, of their works, only a few fragments remain.
Nor are any literary productions preserved entire, between the time
of Sappho and Anacreon, who flourished at the distance of near a
hundred years from each other; and between the poems of Anacreon
and Pindar, there is another chasm of near a century. After this, the
works which still subsist of the three great tragic poets, ^Eschylus,
Sophocles, and Euripides; and of the historians, Herodotus,
Thucydides, and Xenophon; together with those of Plato, Aristotle,
Aristoxenus, Euclid, Theocritus, Callimachus, Polybius, and many
others, all produced within the space of less than three hundred
years; mark this as one of those illustrious and uncommon periods,
in which all the powers of human nature and genius seem to have
been called forth and exerted, in order to furnish light and instruc-
tion to mankind, in intermediate ages of Darkness, indolence,
calamity, and barbarism.
386
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
With respect to the arts, we learn from Pausanias, that sculp-
ture was brought to the highest perfection between the fifty-second
or fifty-third Olympiad, and the eighty-third; that is, in about a
hundred and twenty years, from Daedalus to Phidias, in which state
it continued till the time of Alexander the Great, the celebrated
epoch of perfection in all the arts and sciences; after which they
began to decline (g). It was then that Eloquence, Poetry, History,
Music, Architecture, Painting, and Sculpture, like flowers of the
climate, sprung up, and bloomed at once, seemingly without labour
and without attention, till the artists were no more; after which
the whole universe agreed in admiring their productions, and
deploring their loss.
As poetry and music, in the early ages of those arts, were so
much united, that all the lyric, elegiac, and even epic Bards, were
necessarily and professedly musicians, I shall give an account of
the principal of them, in chronological order. Indeed, the diligence
of editors and commentators has made the literary world, in
general, so well acquainted with the most interesting circumstances
relative to the lives and writings of every poet whose works are
preserved, that I shall have little occasion to swell the biographical
part of my History with further particulars concerning them. But
there are other ifiustrious names upon record, of Bards, who,
though dear to their cotemporaries, and long respected by succeed-
ing ages, have survived the ravages of time, only in a few scattered
fragments. And as antiquity has preserved several incidents relative
to the lives, talents, and productions of these, I shall endeavour
to collect them; and from the scanty materials to be gathered in
ancient authors, assign to each the inventions and improvements
attributed to him, in Poetry and Music, while those two arts
continued so inseparable, as to constitute one and the same
profession.
THALETAS* of Crete is the next Poet-musician upon record,
after Hesiod and Homer. This Bard has been confounded by
some writers with Thales, the celebrated Milesian philosopher; but,
according to Plutarch (h), he was cotemporary with Lycurgus,
the Spartan legislator, and lived about three hundred years after
the Trojan war. Plutarch also informs us, that though Thaletas
was only styled a lyric poet and musician, he was likewise a great
philosopher and politician; in so much that Lycurgus brought him
from Crete, when he returned from his travels, to Sparta, in order
to have assistance from him, in establishing his new form of govern-
ment. His Odes, continues Plutarch, were so many exhortations
to obedience and concord, which he enforced by the sweetness of
his voice and melody. Plato, likewise, describes his captivating
(g) Phidias died 432 years B.C. and Alexander 323. So that the whole period of perfection in
the arts was but of 109 years duration.
(h)Inlycurg.
* If Thaletas was a contemporary of Lycuigus he flourished not later than 825 B C. Some
authorities identify him as a native of Gortyna in Crete who flourished shortly after Terpander
(probably after 650 B.C.). jr—
287
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
manner of singing; and Plutarch, in his Dialogue on Music, ascribes
to Thaletas many musical compositions and inventions: such as
Paans, and new Measures in verse, as well as Rhythms in music,
which he had acquired from the flute-playing of Olympus, whom
he at first had imitated. Porphyry, in his Lite of Pythagoras, says
that this philosopher used to amuse himself with singing the old
P&ans of Thaletas; and Athenaeus likewise tells us (i), that the
Spartans long continued to sing his Airs; and, according to the
Scholiast on Pindar, this poet-musician was the first who composed
the Hyporchemes for the armed, or military dance (k).
There was another poet and musician of the name of Thaletas,
likewise a Cretan, who flourished much later than the cotemporary
and friend of Lycurgus. Sir Isaac Newton has named him among
the early victors at the Pythic games, and Dr. Blair places him
673 B.C. This is the Thaletas whom Plutarch makes cotemporary
with Solon, and of whom it it related, that he delivered the
Lacedaemonians from the pestilence, by the sweetness of his lyre (/).
The name of EUMELUS occurs next among the early poets of
Greece, though but little is known concerning his talents or pro-
ductions. He is quoted, indeed, both by Pausanias and Athenaeus;
by the former, to shew the great antiquity of musical contests
among the Messenians, and, by both, as an Historian. But if he
was author of a history of his own country, Corinth, as these writers
have said, it must have been composed in Verse, an historical
Ballad; prose-writing having been unknown in Greece, so early as
744 years B.C., the time when he is said, by G. Vossius, to have
flourished. Philosophy and history had no other language than
poetry, till the time of Cadmus Milesius, and Pherecydes of Scyros,
who were cotemporaries, and the first who wrote concerning either
history or philosophy, in Prose.* Epimenides of Crete, Abaris
the philosopher, and Anacharsis the legislator, both Scythians, as
well as Eumelus of Corinth, and innumerable others, are said to
have made verse the vehicle of their instructions and records.
These all acquired the title of Sage (m), which, originally, was
bestowed not only on the wise and learned, who held commerce
with the Muses, but on all those who had distinguished themselves
by their abilities in any art or science.
ARCHILOCHUS has been already mentioned (»), as the inven-
tor of Dramatic Melody, or the melody used in Declamation; which,
in modern language, might be termed Recitative to strict measure,
such as the voice-part observes in many modern pieces of
(*) Lib. xv.
(ft The Greeks called vjropxwto, a kind of poetry composed, not only to be sung to the sound
of flutes and citharas, but to be danced, at the same time. The Italian term Ballata, the French
Ballade, and the English word Ballad, had formerly the same import ; implying, severally, a song,
the melody of which -was to regulate the time of a dance. And the different measures of poetry being
called feet, both in ancient and modern languages, suggests an idea that dancing, if not anterior to
Poetry and Music, had a very early and ultimate connection with them both. The poet Simonides
denned Poetry an eh'jueiii Dance ; and Dancing, a silent Poetry.
(I) See p. 158. (m) 2o$os. (n) P. 137.
* It is doubtful if Cadmus of Miletus existed. Dionysius of Halicaranssus states that the work
ascribed to him was a forgery. One of the earliest prose writers was Hecataus of Miletus who died
about 476 B.C.
288
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
accompanied recitative. Herodotus makes him cotemporary with
Candaules and Gyges, kings of Lydia, who flourished about the
fourteenth Olympiad, 724 B.C. But modern chronology places him
much later (0). According to Plutarch, there is no Bard of
antiquity, by whom the two arts of Poetry and Music have been so
much advanced, as by Archilochus. He was born at Paros, one
of the Cyclades. His father Telesicles was of so high a rank, that
he was chosen by his countrymen to consult the oracle at Delphos,
concerning the sending a colony to Thasos: a proof that he was
of one of the most distinguished families upon the island. However,
he is said to have sullied his birth by an ignoble marriage
with a slave called Enipo, of which alliance our poet-musician was
the fruit.
Though Archilochus shewed an early genius and attachment to
poetry and music, these arts did not prevent his going into the
army, like other young men of his birth; but in the first engagement
at which he was present, the young poet, like Horace, and like our
own Suckling, lost his buckler, though he saved his life by the help
of his heels; neither of which, luckily, had fared so ill in the
battle, as that of Achilles at Troy. It is much easier, said he, to
get a new buckler, than a new existence. This pleasantry, how-
ever, did not save his reputation; nor could his poetry or prayers
prevail upon Lycambes, the father of his mistress, to let him marry
his daughter, though she had been long promised to him. After
these mortifications, his life seems to have been one continued tissue
of disgrace and resentment (£). There is a great resemblance
between the incidents of his life, and those of the poet Rousseau;
both were equally unfortunate in love, friendship, and in death;
both were at war with the world, and the world with them; nor was
either admired, till he ceased to be feared. A peevish, satirical,
and irascible disposition, soured the public, and embittered their
own existence. A general satirist, like Codes on the bridge, stands
alone, against a whole army of foes.
All the particular circumstances of this Greek satirist, which
cannot with propriety have admission here, have been carefully
collected in the course of the present century by three able
biographers (q). His musical and poetical discoveries are what
chiefly concern this History; and among these, Plutarch (r)
attributes to Mm the Rhythmop&ia of Trimeter Iambics; the sudden
transition from one rhythm to another of a different kind (s); and
the manner of accompanying those irregular measures upon the
lyre; with several other inventions of the same kind, which, to
(o) Blair 686 ; Priestley 660 B.C.
(p) Archilochum proprio rabies armavit lambo. HOR.
The rage of A rchilochus was proverbial in antiquity ; which compared the provoking this satyrist,
to the treading upon a serpent. A comparison not very severe, if it be true that Lycambes, and, as
some say, histhree daughters, were so mortified by his satire, as to be driven to the consolation ot a
halter.
(q) Bayle, in his Dictionary ; the Abb6 Sevin ; and M. Burette, in Mem. de Litt. t. x.
(r) De Musica.
(s) That is of a different time ; as from Iambic rhythm, or triple time, to Dactylic, or common time.
VOI,. i. 19 289
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
transcribe, would only be giving the reader words without ideas, or
ideas which it is not certain the words were intended to convey.
Now, as the measure of verse rigorously governed the melody to
which it was set and sung, new Numbers in poetry must have
generated new Airs in music. Heroic poetry, in hexameter verse,
seems to have been solely in use among the more ancient poets
and musicians; and the transition from one rhythm to another,
which lyric poetry required, was unknown to them; so that if
Archilochus was the first author of this mixture, he might with
propriety be styled the Inventor of Lyric Poetry, which, after
his time, became a species of versification wholly distinct from
heroic (t).
To Archilochus is likewise ascribed the invention of Epodes:
the word, in its most common acceptation, implies a number of
lyric verses of different construction, comprised in a single stanza,
which, in odes, were sung immediately after the two other stanzas,
called 'Strophe and Antistrophe (u). But the name of Epode was
likewise given to a small lyric poem, composed of Trimeter-
Iambics, of six feet, and Dimeters of four feet, alternately. Of this
last kind were the Epodes of Archilochus, mentioned by Plutarch;
and those of the fifth book of Odes of Horace. And, in after-
times, the signification of the word Epode was extended to every
poem which had a short verse placed at the end of several longer
verses (x).
Our poet-musician is generally ranked among the first victors
at the Pythic games; and we learn from Pindar (y}3 that his Muse
was not always a Termagant: for though no mortal escaped her
rage, yet she was, at times, sufficiently tranquil and pious to
dictate hymns in praise of the Gods, and Heroes. One, in parti-
cular, written in honour of Hercules, acquired him the acclamations
of all Greece; for he sung it in full assembly at the Olympic
games, and had the satisfaction of receiving from the judges the
crown of victory, consecrated to real merit. This hymn, or ode,
was afterwards sung in honour of every victor at Olympia, who
had no poet to celebrate his particular exploits.
The names of Homer and Archilochus were equally revered and
celebrated in Greece, as the two most excellent poets which the
nation had ever produced. This appears from an epigram in the
Anthologia, and from Cicero, who ranks him with the poets of
the first class, and in his Epistles tells us, that the grammarian
Aristophanes, the most rigid and scrupulous critic of his time,
used to say, the longest poem of Archilochus always appeared, to
him,, the most excellent.
The Lacedaemonians, though a military people, of austere
manners, appear at all times, notwithstanding their inhospitable
law against the admission of strangers (z), to have invited eminent
(t) See Dissert, p. 82, note (*). {«) Idem ibidem, p. 160.
(x) Recherckes sur la, Vie et sur Us Ouvrages d'Archtioqut. Par TAbbg Sevin.
290
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
musicians into their country, and to have encouraged music; not
only in order to regulate the steps, and animate the courage of
their troops, but to grace their festivals, and fill their hours of
leisure in private life (a). TYRT-3JUS, an Athenian General,
and Musician, is celebrated by all antiquity for the composition of
military songs and airs, as well as the performance of them. He
was called to the assistance of the Lacedaemonians, in the second
war with the Messenians, about 685 B.C. and a memorable victory
which they obtained over that people, is attributed by the ancient
scholiasts .upon Horace, to the animating sound of a new
military Flute, or Clarion, invented and played upon by Tyrtaus.
Plutarch tells us that they gave him the freedom of their city; and
that his military airs were constantly sung and played in the
Spartan army, to the last hour of the republic. And Lycurgus,
the orator, in his oration against Leocrates, says, " The Spartans
made a law, that whenever they were in arms, and going 'out
upon any military expedition, they should all be first summoned
to the king's tent, to hear the songs of Tyrtaeus;" thinking it
the best means of sending them forth with a disposition to die
with pleasure for their country (6). He was likewise the author
of a celebrated song and dance performed at festivals by three
choirs; the first of which was composed of old men, the second of
such as were arrived at maturity, and the third of boys. The first
chorus began by this verse :
In youth our souls with martial ardor glow'd.
The 2d. We present glory seek — point out the road.
The 3d. Though now with children we can only class,
We hope our future deeds will your's surpass (c).
All ancient writers who mention the progressive state of music
in Greece, are unanimous in celebrating the talents of
TERPANDER [fl. c. 700-650 B.C.]; but though there is such an
entire agreement among them concerning the obligations which the
art was under to this musician in its infant state, yet it is difficult
to find any two accounts of him which accord in adjusting the
time and place of his birth. It does not, however, seem neces-
sary to lead the reader over hedge and ditch with chronologers,
after a truth, of which the scent has so long been lost. The Oxford
Marbles, which appear to me the best authority to follow, tell us,
in express terms, that he was the son of Derdeneus of Lesbos, and
that he flourished in the 381st year of these records (d\; which
nearly answers to the twenty-seventh Olympiad, and 671st year
B.C. The Marbles inform us likewise, that he taught the Nomes,
(a) Athenasus, lib. xiv. tells us that they had a Flute upon their Ensigns and Standards.
(b) Fragments of this poetry, in elegiac verse, are preserved in Stdbesus, Lycurgus Orat. In
Fulvius Ursinus, at the end of Poems by iUustrious Women ; and in the Oxford Edition of Eleg. &
Lyric* Frag. & Scolia. printed 1759. Ta 2a>£o/xeva, &c.
(c) The abb£ Savin has likewise collected all the most interesting particulars to be found in ancient
authors, relative to the life and writings of Tyrtau$. See Mem. d* Lilt. torn. viii.
($ te'afm* Oxen. Epoch, 35, p. 166.
291
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
or Airs, of the Lyre and Flute, which he performed himself upon
this last instrument, in concert with other players on the Flute
(e). Several writers tell us that he added three strings to the lyre,
which before his time had but four; and in confirmation of this,
Euclid (/) and Strabo (g) quote two verses, which they attribute
to Terpander himself (h).
The Tetrachord's restraint we now despise,
The seven-stringed Lyre a nobler strain supplies.
If the hymn to Mercury, which is ascribed to Homer, and in
which the seven-stringed Lyre is mentioned, be genuine, it robs
Terpander of this glory. The learned, however, have great
doubts concerning its authenticity (i). But if the lyre had been
before his time furnished with seven strings, in other parts of
Greece, it seems as if Terpander was the first who played upon
them at Lacedsemon. The Marbles tell us that the people were
offended by his innovations. The Spartan discipline had deprived
them of all their natural feelings; they were rendered machines;
and whether Terpander disturbed the springs by which they used
to be governed, or tried to work upon them by new ones, there
was an equal chance of giving offence. The new strings, or new
melodies, and new rhythms, upon the old strings, must have been
as intolerable to a Lacedaemonian audience, at first hearing, as an
Organ, and chearful music would have been, to a Scots congre-
gation some years ago, or would be at a Quaker's meeting now.
" It is not at aU surprising," says Alcibiades, "that the
Lacedaemonians seem fearless of death in the day of battle, since
death would free them from those laws which make them so
wretched (k)."
Plutarch, in his Laconic Institutions, informs us, that Terpan-
der was fined by the Ephori for his innovations. However, in his
(e) TOYS NOMOY2 TOYS AYPA2 KAl AYAQN EAHA3EN, OY2 KAI AYAHTAIS
2YNHYAH2E.
{/). Introd Harm. p. 19. Edit. Meibom. (g) Lib. xiii.
(fc) *Hj&«t? rot Terpa-yijpw a7ro<rep£arreff aotSrjv, "EirTaroi^) ^op/uyyt veow JceAafiTjoro/jtev V/APOV?.
(*) See Clarke's notes oil Homer. The Hymn to Apollo has indeed better authority ; for it is
quoted by Thucydides, whose testimony is of great weight ; but as neither the word yeXw, nor
Aupa, are to be found in the Iliad, Odyssey, or in this Hymn, and as both occur in that to Mercury,
it seems to furnish a proof of its being spurious, which has hitherto escaped the commentators. The
mention .of seven concordant strings— "Eirra. Se <rv/uufcwow OUDJ> era.wava.ro xop6a<? v. 51. in this last
Hymn, is a curious circumstance ; but unless the time when it was written could be ascertained, no
conclusions can be drawn Irom it. It may be worth observing, however, that the words o'iow Yop&w,
in this verse, tell us, that the strings of the Mercurian lyre were sheep strings, that is, made of sheep's
of ffiH? Hymn, that the Tortoise-shell was covered with Leather * a/i^i fie BEQUM. rowvtrt Boos' and
it is frequently mentioned that it was held in the left Hand : err' apurepa x«pos. '
(k) ffflian, lib. xiii. c. 38. These people seem to have made life one continued penance, from the
beginning to the end of it, by constantly counteracting nature in all her operations. They were
inveterate Fanatics, equally enemies to comfort and elegance in their way of living, with the most
gloomy Methodists of modern times. It is given by Plutarch, as a ben mot of one of their kings, that
when a musician was highly extolled for his skill, he said, " how much you must admire a brave man
who can bestow such praise upon a harper ? " And when a musician was recommended to the same
prince, as a man who composed excellent music, he said, turning to his cook, " and this ™"n can make
good broth." The particular kind of merit in which persons of narrow minds excel, is, with them the
first of all qualifications. The Spartans had brought that art of killing their neighbours and of
defending themselves, to great perfection, and they were unwilling to allow that any ot er
accomplishment was necessary. Plutarch, hi his Life of Lycurgus, tells us, however, that they would hot
suffer their slaves to smg either the songs of Terpander or Alcman. And that some of the Helots nor
slaves, being taken prisoners by the Thebans, and asked to sing them, said, they are the songs of, our
re not szn« them. ' * J
292
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
Dialogue on Music, he likewise tells us, that the same musician
appeased a sedition at Sparta, among the same people, by the
persuasive strains which he sung and played to them on that occasion.
There seems no other way of reconciling these two accounts, than
by supposing that he had, by degrees, refined the public taste, or
depraved his own to the level of his hearers.
Among the many signal services which Terpander is said to
have done to music, none was of more importance than the
Notation that is ascribed to him for ascertaining and preserving
melody, which was before traditional, and wholly dependent on
memory (/). The invention, however, of Musical Characters has
been attributed by Alypius and Gaudentius, two Greek writers
on music, and, upon their authority, by Boethius, to Pythagoras,
who flourished full two centuries after Terpander. It will be
necessary therefore to tell the reader upon what grounds this useful
discovery has been bestowed upon him.
Plutarch (m), from Heraclides of Pontus (n), assures us that
Terpander, the inventor of Nomes for the Cithara, in Hexameter
verse, set them to music (o), as well as the verses of Homer, in
order to sing them at the public Games. And Clemens Alexan-
drinus (p), in telling us that this musician wrote the laws of
Lycurgus in verse, and set them to music, makes use of the same
expression as Plutarch, which seems clearly to imply a written
melody (q).
After enumerating the Airs which Terpander had composed,
and to which he had given names, Plutarch (r) continues to speak
of his other Compositions, among which, he describes the
Proems (s), or Hymns for the Cithara, in heroic verse. These
were used in after-times, by the Rhapsodists, as prologues, or
introductions to the poems of Homer, and other ancient writers.
But Terpander rendered his name illustrious, no less by his
Performance, both upon the Flute and Cithara, than by his
Compositions. This appears by the Marbles, already mentioned; by a
passage in Athenaeus, from the historian Hellanicus, which informs
us that he obtained the first prize in the Musical Contests at the
Carnean Games (t); and by the testimony of Plutarch, who says,
(I) What this Notation was, has been already explained in the Dissertation, sect.I.
(m) De Music*. (») See Note (p) page 62.
(o) MeXir 7repm0«ra, literally, ckathed them in melody. (p) Strom, lib. i.
(q) MeXos « av wpwros irepiefcjKe rots Troojjuuwrt first set melody to poems. Athenaeus tells us,
however, lib. viii. cap, 12, that Stratonicus, a musician, whom he frequently celebrates for his wit and
humour, invented Diagrams, or Gamuts, and gives for his authority Ereaus Phamas, the Peripatetic ;
but the invention of musical characters seems to include the formation of a scale, and Stratonicus
flourished long after both Terpander and Pythagoras, to whom different writers have ascribed the
first use of alphabetic characters, as types of musical sounds.
(r) Ubi supra. (*) Hpoo-t/ita ictdap^acKa.
«) These were instituted at Sparta about the 26th Olympiad, 676 B.C. in order to avert the anger
of Apollo for the death of Camus, one of his priests, murdered by the Dorians. Athenaeus, »- »*•
tells us, that Hellanicus, in his Treatise upon Versification, had inserted an exact list of the several
victors at the Carnia, from the first celebration of those festivals, to his own time : and that Terpander
was at the head of them. Hellanicus died 411 B.C. He was a Lesbian, and the first Historian who
computed time according to the years of the priestesses ofArgos ; as Timseus was the first who reckoned
by Olympiads.
293
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
that " no other proof need be urged of the excellence of Terpander,
in the art of playing upon the Cithara, than what is given by
the Register of the Pythic Games, from which it appears that he
gained four prizes, successively, at those solemnities («)."
After speaking of the victories obtained by this venerable Bard,
at the Public Games, it seems necessary to be somewhat minute in
describing these memorable institutions, as far as they concern
music. And, in order to convey to the reader as clear an idea as
I am able, of the rank which Music and Musicians held at these
assemblies, I shall give some account of each of the four principal,
or Sacred Games, separately : and first,
Of theJDlympic Qames
Though it is not my design to insert all the irreconcileable
accounts of ancient authors, concerning the origin of these institu-
tions, yet I shall be the more particular in tracing them, not only
as many Poets and Musicians displayed their skill and abilities at
them, but as they constitute the most memorable JEiB. of Pagan
antiquity, upon which all Chronology and History depend.
Historians have, indeed, the greatest obligations to these Epochs,
which have thrown a light upon the chaos of remote events, and
enabled them to distinguish and ascertain them.
All the Grecian Games seem to have originated from the honours
paid to deceased heroes by their surviving Mends at their Obsequies.
Homer, who mentions not the Olympics, is very minute in
describing the Funeral Games, celebrated in honour of Patrodus
and Achilles (#). They are likewise to be found in the Argonautics,
attributed to Orpheus; and in Apollonius Rhodius. Games of a
different kind are, however, described by Homer, not only such as
•were exhibited for the amusement of mysses at the court of
Alcinous (y), but others at Delos, that were connected with religion,
in which it seems as if Homer himself had performed. Thucydides
(z) tells us, that in very remote antiquity, there were " Games
of bodily exercise, and of Music, in which cities exhibited their
respective Choruses;" and, in testimony of this, he quotes the
following verses from Homer's Hymn to Apollo :
" To thee, O Phoebus, most the Deliau isle
Gives cordial joy, excites the pleasing smile;
When gay lonians flock around thy fane;
Men, women, children, a resplendent train,
Whose flowing garments sweep the sacred pile,
(u) Ibid. These must have been obtained at the casual celebration of the Pytbic games, long
before their regular establishment.
(*) II. book xxi£t. and Odyss. book rriv.
(y) Odyss. book viii
(*} Lib. iii. cap. 104.
294
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
Whose grateful concourse gladdens all the isle,
Where champions fight, where dancers beat the ground,
Where chearful Music echoes aU around,
Thy feast to honour and thy praise to sound."
"That there was also," continues Thucydides, "a Musical
Game, to which artists resorted to make Trials of skill f Homer fully
shows in other verses to be found in the same Hymn : for having
sung the Delian chorus of females, he closes their praise with these
lines, in which he makes some mention of himself:
" Hail! great Apollo, radiant God of day!
Hail Cynthia, Goddess of the lunar sway !
Henceforth on me propitious smile! and you,
Ye blooming beauties of the isle, adieu !
When future guests shall reach your happy shore,
And refug'd here from toils, lament no more;
When social talk the mind unbending chears,
And this demand shall greet your friendly ears —
Who was the Bard, e'er landed on your coast,
That sung the sweetest, and that pleased you most? —
With voice united, all ye blooming fair,
Join in your answer, and for me declare;
Say — The blind Bard the sweetest notes may boast,
He lives at Chios, and he pleas'd us most/9
SMITH'S Thucydides.
I cannot help. pointing out another circumstance in this Hymn,
which is really curious, as it implies the cultivation of a talent
for imitation, at a time when simplicity and original genius seem
most likely to have subsisted, pure and untainted, by ludicrous
similitudes.
Homer, in verse 162, describing the employment of the Delian
priestesses, or Nuns of the order of Saint Apollo of Delos, tells
us, that they were great adepts in the art of Mimickry; and that
part of the entertainment which they afforded to the numerous
people of different nations, who formed their congregation, was,
as the poet expresses it, from their being skilled to imitate the
voices and the pulsation (a), or measure, of all nations: and so
exactly was their song adapted, that every man would think he
himself was singing (b).
Homer seems to sketch out the order of the performance in these
old Pagan Conservatories, v. 158 : first they sung a hymn in praise
of Apollo: then another in praise of Latona and Diana: then
they descended to the celebration of human Heroes and Heroines
(a) Kpe/Aj3oXio<rrw, Strepitom.
. (b) By the expression iravrwv Mpwrw $a>w*, literally, the voices of att men, is hardly meant
that these ladies were in possession of Mr. Foote's talent, and took off individuals. *«w« seems only
to imply national melody, or, at most, national dialects, and inflexions of speech : and Kpenpt&uurrvs,
National Rhythm, which, in all probability was the most striking characteristic in those early ages of
music.
295
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
ot ancient times; and it seems to have been in this part of their
performance that they exerted their mimetic powers, and charmed
the nations (c).
It appears, even from the discordant accounts of chronclogers,
that the Olympic Games had at first been only celebrated
occasionally, at very distant and irregular periods, in order to
solemnize some great events; but as no two writers are agreed
concerning either the times or occasions of these early exhibitions,
I shall enter upon no discussion concerning them, anterior to the
year 776, B.C., at which time they first began to be regularly
celebrated once in fifty months, or the second month after the
expiration of four years, and to serve as epochas to all Greece.
Corsebus, the Elean, was the victor in this Olympiad, which
chronologers have unanimously agreed to call the firet. These
Games were particularly dedicated to Olympian Jupiter, and had
their name either from that circumstance, or from the city Olympia,
near which they were celebrated.
With whatever design they were at first instituted, whether for
religious or civil purposes, in process of time they became of such
general importance to all the states and cities of Greece, that there
was no one of them which dfd not think itself deeply interested in
their celebration; and which, as each of them furnished com-
batants of one kind or other, did not eventually participate of
the honour they acquired, when victorious, or the disgrace, when
vanquished.
Mr. West, in his Dissertation on the Olympic Games, published
with his translation of some of the Odes of Pindar, has described
most of the gymnastic exercises there, and clearly demonstrated
that these institutions were at once religious and political, in both
which senses they were productive of much public benefit.
Respect and veneration for the Gods, but particularly for Jupiter,
he observes, were impressed by the noble and magnificent temple
and statues erected to him at Olympia, as well as by religious rites
and ceremonies. By the Horse-race, the breed and management
of that useful animal was promoted; in the Foot-race, manly
speed and activity. In other athletic and gymnastic exercises, a
noble ambition of excelling in feats of manhood and dexterity,
before all the princes and people of Greece, was stimulated by
every incitement that was likely to operate upon the passions of
men. But though Mr. West tells us, that " these assemblies were
frequented by persons of the greatest eminence in all the arts of
peace, such as Historians, Orators, Philosophers, Poets and
Painters; who perceiving that the most compendious way to fame
lay through Olympia, were there induced to exhibit their best
performances, at the time of the celebration of the Olympic
games"; yet, he has wholly omitted to mention Poetical and
Musical Contests, though both can be proved to have had frequent
admission there. Indeed these were not the principal contentions
(c)
296
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
at Olympia, as they were at Delphos, and in some other public
Games; being subordinate to the athletic and gymnastic exercises,
and no part of the Pentathlon, or five bodily exercises, of leaping,
running, throwing the quoit or dart, boxing and wrestling; though
even these were accompanied by the Flute; for Pausanias (d) says
that Pythocritus of Sicyon played six times upon the Flute during
the exercise of the .Pentathlon, at Olympia; and in testimony of
the skill and abilities which he manifested in his art, a pillar and
statue were erected to him with this inscription :
HYeOKPITOY
KAAAINIKOY
MNAMATA
AYAHTA.
To the Memory of Pythocritus, Victor upon the Flute. We
have the same authority for the horse-race being accompanied by
the Trumpet (e): and many ancient writers tell us that the chariot-
race was likewise accompanied by the Flute.
Pausanias also remarks, that there was a Gymnasium near
Olympia, called Lolichmium, which was open at all times to those
who were desirous of trying their powers in literary combats of
every kind, where Music, as the constant companion of Poetry,
could not have been excluded.
^Blian (/) tells us likewise, that in the 91st Olympiad (g),f
Xenocles and Euripides disputed the prize of Dramatic Poetry at
the Olympic games. Now Dramatic Poetry was at this time always
set to music, sung, and accompanied by instruments, when
performed on the stage; it is probable, therefore, that the case was
the same at a public recital; at least with respect to the lyric part
of the Drama.
In the 96th Olympiad, 396 B.C. a prize was instituted at the
Olympic games for the best performer on the Trumpet. It has
been already observed (h}> that the Trumpet was not in use among
the Greeks at the time of the Trojan war; and when it became
common, it may well be imagined to have served at first only as a
rough and noisy signal of battle, like that at present in Abyssinia,
and New Zealand, and, perhaps, with only one sound. But when
even more notes were produced from it, so noisy an instrument
must have been an unfit accompaniment for the voice and for
poetry: so that it is probable the Trumpet was the first solo
instrument in use among the ancients.
The first performer upon this instrument, who gained the prize
at the Olympic games, was Timaeus of Elis (f). His countryman,
Crates, obtained one there the same year, on the Cornet, or Horn
(ft). Archias of Hybla, in Sicily, was victor on the Trumpet at
(£) Lib. vt (e} Ibid. {/) Lib. ii. cap. 8. (g) 416 B.C.
(fc) P. 273. (») Avaypaf. Olyinp. ad Cak. CJtron. Eustto.
(k) Jut. Pottux Onomastic. lib. iv. cap. xii, segm. 92.
297
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
three several Olympiads, after this period (Q. These premiums
seem not to have been temporary, but to have been continued
long after their first establishment; for Athenaeus informs us, that
the famous Trumpeter, Herodorus of Megara, already mentioned
in this work (m), was victor at the Olympic games ten several
times. Jul. Pollux says fifteen. These writers must mean that he
obtained so many prizes at the different games of Greece; as
Athenaeus informs us, that he was victor in the whole circle of
sacred games, having been crowned at the Olympian, Pythian,
Nemean, and Isthmian, by turns (n).
These performers on the Trumpet appear to have been Heralds
and public cryers; who not only gave the signals at the games
for the combatants to engage, and announced their success, but
proclaimed peace and war, and sounded signals of sacrifice and
silence, at religious ceremonies (o).
As Herodorus is allowed to have been cotemporary with
Demetrius Poliorcetes, he may be placed about the 120 Olymp.
300 B.C. According to the authors already cited, he was as
remarkable for his gigantic figure and enormous appetite, as for the
strength of his lungs, which were so powerful in blowing the
trumpet, that he could not be heard with safety, unless at a great
distance. But, upon these occasions, the danger was not always
confined to the Hearers ; the Performers themselves, sometimes,
seem to have exulted, and to have been very thankful that they
found themselves alive and well, when their Solos were ended. An
epigram of Archias, the Hyblaean trumpeter, mentioned above, is
preserved in Jul. Pollux, in which he dedicates a statue to Apollo,
in gratitude for his having been enabled to proclaim the Olympic
games with his trumpet, three times, without bursting his cheeks,
or a blood-vessel, though he sounded with all his force, and without
a Capistrum, or Muzzle (p).
Even the Flute had its dangers, if Lucian may be credited, who
relates, with the appearance of great gravity, that Harmonides, a
young Flute-player, and scholar of Timotheus, at his first public
performance, in order to astonish his hearers, began his solo with so
violent a blast, that he breathed his last breath into his flute, and
died upon the spot (q).
Plutarch, and several ancient writers, speak of a kind of Pasticcio
performance at the public games, among the Rhapsodists, who
(Z) P. Corsini Fasti Attic. Olymp. 96. (m) Page 155.
(») Casaub. Animad. in Athen. lib. x. cap. 3, est igitvr ireptoSw VIKO.V, orbem implere ludorum
sacrorum : qui in Gr&cia erani quaiuor.
(o) Jul. Pollux, loc. tit. seg. 91.
(p) See p. 232. I shall insert here, for the satisfaction of the learned reader, the original epigram
from the Qnomastican of Julius Pollux, lib. iv. cap. 12. as it is not, I believe, in the Anthologia of
Stephens, nor has it been cited by any modern author that I know of, except Isaac Vossius.
"Y/3X<uft> jeflpwct TO£* Apx'f Ev/cXeo? vtw
A<r£ac ayaAju.' cvQpw Qot.p eir* amjfMxrwij,
*Os rpts ejeapv£ev TOV 'OAv/tirta? avros a-ytova,
*0v0* * *
words : «/a/reirveweTa> avAw, breathed I
died upon the stage.
298
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
used to collect together favourite passages of poetry and music of
different Styles and Masters, and sing them to the Cithara.
Cleomenes the Rhapsodist, however, according to Anthenseus (r}>
sung, by memory, at the Olympic Games, an entire poem called the
Expiations, composed by Empedocles (s).
As a further proof of musical contests forming a part of the
exhibitions at the Olympic Games, I shall only observe that the
emperor Nero, who regarded every great musician as his rival,
disputed the prize in music there, in all its forms (t) : fret, entering
his name with the common candidates, and submitting to all the
usual preparatory discipline, as well as to the rigour of the theatrical
laws, during performance ; and, afterwards, supplicating the favour
of the Nomodictai (u), or umpires, by all the seeming submission and
anxiety of a professed musician ; as if an emperor, and such an
emperor, had any thing to fear from the severity of his judges !
But, besides the contests, in which Poetry and Music were the
principal objects of attention, at these numerous and splendid
a^emblies, those arts must have been cultivated and practised there,
with equal zeal and success, in the secondary employment of
celebrating the achievements of others. Honour was the chief incite-
ment to the candidates in all the Sacred Games. Indeed, though
the victors in the Pentathlon were entitled to a reward of about
500 Drachma, 161. 2s. lid. yet it does not appear, that in the
horse, or chariot-race, any other prize was bestowed on the
conqueror than an olive-crown ; for as kings and princes were
frequently the combatants, what lucre, but that of glory, could tempt
them to enter the lists?
The victors, in every species of combat, were, however,
distinguished upon all occasions, and had every where the most
honourable reception : Poets and Musicians of the greatest eminence,
were ambitious of celebrating their praise ; and it is to their triumphs
that we owe the Odes of Pindar. Other panegyrics of this kind
have not come down to us, though every successful hero had a
bard to record his victory, and to chant his virtues. Both Simonides
and Bacchylides composed Hymns in honour of king Hiero, as
well as Pindar ; but I shall give sufficient testimony hereafter of
innumerable compositions of the like species having been produced,
and sung upon similar occasions, by the greatest Poets and
Musicians of antiquity.
(r) Lib. xiv. p. 620.
(s) The import of the word Rhapsodist underwent several changes in antiquity ; it was first
appropriated to Bards, who sung their own verses from town to town, or at the tables of the great ;
in this sense Homer was called a Rhapsodist. It was next bestowed on those who sung the verses of
Homer on the stage, usually for a prize, allotted to the best performer of them ; and, lastly, to such
singers of Centos, as have been just described. A Rhapsody, in modern language, conveys no other
meaning than that of an incoherent jumble of ideas. This sense of the word, undoubtedly, took its
rise from the notorious folly and absurdity of the Khapsodists, in their rapturous comments upon their
favourite poets ; for they undertook to explain as well as to recite. Hence it is that hi Suidas, the
word pa^u&a, is defined by ^Xvpta, nonsense.
(t) Suet, in Neronc, cap. xxi, and Dio Cassius, tell us, that this prince wore the Olympic Crown,
after his return into Italy ; and entered every great city in his way home, by a breach in the walls,
according to the ancient custom of a conqueror at Olympia.
(tt) No/xoSei/cTOA.
299
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Mr. West, in his Dissertation, has enumerated, among the
honours conferred on Olympic victors, the Odes that were composed
for them, and performed in processions and temples, with a religious
zeal and solemnity. Indeed, these happy mortals were exalted
above humanity ; they had nothing to fear from the humiliating
vicissitudes of fortune ; the public provided for their subsistence,
and immortalized their fame, by monuments which seemed to brave
the injuries of time. The most celebrated statuaries were ambitious
of representing their figures in brass and marble, and binding their
brows with the emblems of victory, in the sacred Grove of Olympia :
a place which alone, in the time of Pausanias, contained more than
five hundred statues of Gods and Heroes of the first class, without
including those that had been placed there in honour of less
important personages. How rapid must have been the progress of
statuary, in consequence of emulation, and the public judgment,
rendered fastidious by the variety of comparison! And what an
admirable school must these exquisite works have been, both for the
history and practice of that art !
The Olympic Games, according to St. Chrysostom, continued to
be celebrated with splendor till the end of the fourth century;
and it may be said, that though the chief attention and honours
in these assemblies were bestowed on feats of activity and bodity
exercises ; yet literature, and the fine arts, were virtually
encouraged, cultivated, and refined, in consequence of the victories
obtained in the Stadium by mere athletics, who, themselves, must
frequently be supposed to have had neither skill nor taste, in works
of fancy and imitation, or in any thing that depended on the
operations of the mind (x).
Of the Pythic Qames
The event upon which these Games, the second in rank, among
the four called Sacred, were founded, has been already related in
the History of Apollo (y) ; and I find no account of their progress
in remote antiquity, previous to their regular establishment at stated
intervals, more full and satisfactory than that given by Pausanias (z) .
" The Pythic Games/' says this writer, " consisted, in ancient
times, of only Poetical and Musical Contests ; and the prize was
given to him who had written and sung the best hymn in honour of
Apollo. At their first celebration, Chrysothemis of Crete, the son
(#) Hiero of Syracuse, whose achievements Pindar has so much extolled, was in his youth
according to JElian, lib. iv. cap. 15, the most ignorant of mankind, his brother Gelo excepted. But
want of health obliging him to remain inactive, he began to think, and to acquire information from the
learned. As for his brother, he remained in ignorance to the end of his life. Of this prince, Plutarch
tells us, in his Apophthegms, that he devoted his whole time to athletic exercises. One day. at a
festival, in which all the guests " ' ' " ' - - - -
his talents, called for a horse, in order to shew with what address he could vault upon his back. An
English athletic, some years ago, upon hearing the late Mr. Miller much applauded at Vauxhall, for
hfe performance on the Bassoon, cried out, " What signifies his Bassoon ? Why I could break it with
my oaken stick."
(y) P. 333- (*) Lib. x. cap. 7.
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
of Carmanor, who purified Apollo, after he had killed the Python,
was victor. After him Philammon, the son of Chrysosothemis, won
the prize; and the next who was crowned, was Thamyris, the son
of Philammon. Eleutherus is recorded to have gained the prize
there, by the power and sweetness of his voice; though the hymn
which he sung was the composition of another. It is said, likewise,
that Hesiod was refused admission among the candidates, on account
of his not having been able to accompany himself upon the lyre ; and
that Homer, though he went to Delphos to consult the Oracle, yet,
on account of his blindness and infirmities, he made but little use
o:C his talent of singing and playing upon the lyre at the same tune."
Hence it appears, that though Musical Contests were, perhaps,
not ranked among the regular and established exercises of the
Olympic Games, yet all antiquity agrees, that no others were
admitted into the Pythic, during the first ages of their celebration.
The Temple of Apollo, at Delphos, a city placed at the foot of
mount Parnassus, in Phocis, where the famous oracle was founded,
and where these games were celebrated, had, on account of
the great treasures it contained, been long the object of desire, to
ambition and rapacity; and had frequently been attempted with
success. However, the most remarkable sacrilege upon record,
was committed by the inhabitants of Crissa, or Cirrha, a small
republic in the neighbourhood, who, grown already rich, insolent,
and licentious, by a prosperous commerce, seized upon the Temple
of Apollo, and not only stripped it of all its treasures, but robbed
and plundered all those who were occupied hi the service of religion,
in the Sacred Grove; pilgrims from all parts of Greece, priests,
priestesses, and virgins, committing every kind of outrage, both
upon their property and persons. Such crimes as these could
not long remain unnoticed, or unpunished; and the Amphictyonic
council, the Parliament and Synod of Greece, shuddering at these
impieties, resolved, unaminously, to revenge the cause of religion
by making war upon the Crissseans. Plutarch, in his life of Solon,
tells us, that this legislator, who had already acquired great reputa-
tion for wisdom, rendered his name still more illustrious and
respected, by exciting the Amphictyonic assembly to make this
decree. The Crissaean war, which was called Sacred, and which
lasted as many years as that of Troy, ended by the utter extirpa-
tion of the Crissseans; and it was at the close of this long and
bloody war, 591 B.C. that Eurylochus, the general of the
Amphictyons, who from his valour, and the length of the siege of
Crissa, was called the New Achilles, instituted the several kinds
of Pythie combats at Delphos, which were afterwards constantly
repeated, on the second year of each Olympiad (a).
(a) According to Diodorus Siculus, the second sacred war was declared by the Amphictyonic
council, against the Phocians themselves, for cultivating the forfeited lands of the sacrilegious
Crissseans which had been decreed, by the Oracle of Apollo, to lie eternally waste. In this war the
Phocians took from the temple of Delphos, the Loretto of ancient times, more spoils than Alexander the
Great did afterwards from Darius, at Susa and Persepolis, amounting by the wonderful computation
of Quintus Curtius, to 150,0*6 talents; or, according to Arbuthnot,- twenty-nrne mdhons^terhng !
TbS-war- was begun 355 B.C, and, after continuing nine years, ended in th$ ruin of the phooans,
though they haditbe^Athenians and'I^ceaamc^atis'lor.iaBJr affies. ..->••.-
301
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Pausanias, in his enumeration of the Musical Contests that were
added to the ancient Pythic Games, at the close of the Crissaean
war, tells us, that the Amphictyons proposed prizes, not only for
those Musicians who sung best to the accompaniment of the Cithara,
the only combat at the first institution of these Games, but others,
both to such as should sing best to the accompaniment of the
Flute, and to those who, with the greatest precision and taste,
played on that instrument alone, without Singing (b) Here
began the separation of Music and Poetry. All the Trials of skill,
all the performances at banquets, festivals, and sacrifices, have
hitherto been confined to Vocal Music, accompanied by instruments
indeed, but where Poetry had an important concern; at least, no
instrumental Music, without vocal, since the contest between
Apollo and Marsyas, is mentioned in ancient authors, before this
time, except that of the Trumpet (c); the Lyre and Flute having,
in public exhibitions, been mere attendants on the voice, and on
Poetry.
This was soon after the time when Sacadas is recorded to have
played his Pythic Air, on the Flute, at Delphos, which reconciled
Apollo (or his priest), to that instrument; who, till then, was said
to have had it in abhorrence ever since the contest with Marsyas.
This Musician was not crowned the first time he played at the
Pythic Games,* but in the two subsequent Pythiads he obtained the
prize, which furnishes a proof that instrumental Music, separated
from vocal, began now to be successfully cultivated among the
Greeks.
After this, the same Games and Combats were established at
Delphos, as at Olympia. The Amphictyons retrenched the Flute
accompaniment, on account of that instrument being too plaintive,
and fit only for lamentations and elegies, to which it was chiefly
appropriated. A proof of this, says Pausanias, is given in the
offering which Echembrotus made to Hercules of a bronze Tripod,
with this inscription:
" Echembrotus, the Arcadian, dedicated this Tripod to
Hercules, after obtaining the prize at the Games of the Amphictyons,
where he accompanied the elegies that were sung in the assembly
of the Greeks, with the Flute."
At the 8th Pythiad, 559 B.C. a crown was given to players
upon stringed instruments, without singing, which was won by
Agelaus of Tegea.
The prize given to the victors at the Pythic Games, consisted
either of Apples, consecrated to Apollo, or, as Pindar informs us,
(b} Pausanias, in pursuing his account of the renewal of these games, tells us, that Cephallen the
son of Lampus, distinguished himself by singing to his own accompaniment on the lyre ; the Arcadian
Echembrotus, by accompanying upon the flute; and Sacadas of Argos, by playing upon that
instrument, atone,
(c) Ubi supra.
* Was connected with the second great school of music established at Sparta. Some authorities
say that he wonthe prize at the first Pythian games in 590 B.C. and also at toe next two series in 586
ands82B,£. The first school had been established by Terpander.
3025
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
of Laurel Crowns, which, according to Pausanias, were peculiar to
the Pythic Games, in allusion to Apollo's passion for Daphne.
Strabo, speaking of the different kinds of contests established by
the Amphictyons, at the first Pythic Games, after the Crissaeans
were subdued, mentions a particular species of Composition, which
was sung to the Hymn in praise of Apollo, and accompanied by
instruments. It was called the Pythian Nome (d); and was a kind
of long Cantata, consisting of five parts, or Movements, all alluding
to the victory obtained by the God over the serpent Python.* The
first part was called the Prelude, or preparation for the fight; the
second, the Onset, or beginning of the combat; the third, the Heat
of the Battle] the fourth, the Song of Victory, or the insults of
Apollo over the serpent Python, composed of Iambics and
Dactyls; and the fifth, the hissing of the dying monster.
This Air, Pausanias tells us, was composed, and first played at
Delphos, by Sacadas, who, according to Plutarch (e), was an
excellent Poet, as well as Musician, and author of "Lyric Poems, of
Elegies, and of a Composition consisting of three Strophes or
Couplets, performed successively in the three Modes chiefly used
in his time, the Dorian, Phrygian, and Lydian; and this air was
called Trimeles, on account of its changes of modulation (/). Both
Plutarch and Pausanias mention his having been celebrated by
Pindar; but as we are not in possession of all that poet's works, this
honourable testimony cannot be found at present. The reputation
of Sacadas must doubtless have been very great, for Plutarch says,
that his name was inserted in the Pythic list of good Poets, and
Pausanias, that he found his statue, with a Flute in his hand, on
Mount Helicon, and his tomb at Argos.
I am the more particular in speaking of this personage, as he
is the first upon record who detached Music from Poetry, and who
though a good Poet himself, engaged the^ public attention in
favour of mere instrumental Music] a Schism that has been as
severely censured as any one in the church. The censurers, however,
have forgotten that such Schisms, in the Arts, are as much to
be desired, as those of religion are to be avoided; since it is by such
separations only, that the different Arts, and different branches^ol
the same Art, becoming the objects of separate and exclusive
cultivation, are brought to their last refinement and perfection.
After Sacadas had pointed out the road to fame, by means
of instrumental Music, it was so successfully pursued by Pythocritus,
of Sicyon, whose statue was erected at Olympia, that he gained
IIv0weos' irevre 5* avrow /wpq «rtv, waic/aovaw, a/wreipa, JcaT<wceA«w/to*,
/cat SewcrvXoi <ru/Myye*. Strab. Geog. lib.it. p. 431.
(e) DeMusica.
,'/) See Dissert, p. 66.
* A dance was also introduced, and in the forty-eighth Olympiad a flute was added to the
" orchestra." The association of the flute with dirges roused opposition to the innovation and caused
il to be withdrawn. The flute was felt to be out of place at a period of merry making.
3<>3
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
the prize at Delphos, as a Solo player on the Flute, six different
times (g).
Sir Isaac Newton (h) observes, that by the encouragement of
the Pythic Games, after their regular celebration was established
several eminent Musicians and Poets flourished in Greece, and gives
a catalogue of more than twenty, concerning several of whom parti-
cular mention has been made already, in the course of this work :
of others, whose names are familiar to the eyes and ears of classical
readers, I shall give such information as ancient authors, and their
commentators, furnish; confining my biographical researches,
however, chiefly to such heroes of the Pipe and String as seem in
a particular manner to belong to the Pythic Games, or to have
merited notice from their early cultivation of Lyric Poetry.
ALCMAN, the first of these ancient Bards, was a native of
Sardis, and flourished about 670 B.C. [or 631 B.C.]. Heraclides
of Pontus assures us, that he was a slave in his youth at Sparta;
but that by his good qualities and genius, he acquired his freedom,
and a considerable reputation in Lyric Poetry. He was conse-
quently an excellent performer on the Cithara; and, if he was not a
Flute player, he at least sung verses to that instrument. Clemens
Alexandrrnus makes him author of Music for choral dances («);
and, according to Archytas Hannoniacus, quoted by Athenseus (£),
Alcman was one of the first and most eminent composers of songs
upon love and gallantry. If we may credit Suidas, he was the
first who excluded Hexameters from verses that were to be sung
to the Lyre, which afterwards obtained the title of Lyric Poems.
And -Sftian tells us, that he was one of the great Musicians who
were called to Lacedaemon, by the exigencies of the state, and that
he sung his airs to the sound of the Flute. All the evolutions in
the Spartan army were made to the sound of that instrument; and
as patriotic Songs accompanied by it were found to be excellent
incentives to public virtue, Alcman seems to have been invited to
Sparta in order to furnish the troops with such compositions.
Cicero says that a Lacedaemonian Orator was never heard of (I) :
And Lilian tells us (m) that the Lacedaemonians had no idea of
literature; applying themselves merely to gymnastic exercises, and
to the art of war: whenever they wanted the assistance of the
Muses they called in strangers. Thus they had recourse to Thaletas,
Tyrtaeus, Terpander, Alcman, and others.
Plutarch (n) likewise tells us, that though they banished Science,
as inconsistent with their military polity, yet they were much
addicted to Poetry and Music, such as raised their minds above the
g) This Musician must have been near thirty years in collecting these honours, and consequently
aslong superior to all his competitors ; let any one figure to himself such an institution inEngland,
and he will recollect the names of Musicians whose talents so clearly surpassed those of ali itheir
cotemporaries, that they must have merited the prize for nearly an equal number of years.
(*} ChronoL p. 60. (*) Xop«is. (k) Lib. xiii. cap. 8. p. 600.
(Q Ltuzdamanium verb usque ad hoc tempus audivi fuisse neminem. In Bratum.
m} Var. Hist. lib. xii. cap. 50. (n) Laconic Instit.
304
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
ordinary level, and inspired them with a generous ardour and
resolution for action. Their compositions, consisting only of grave
and moral subjects, were easy and natural, in a plain dress, and
without embellishment, containing nothing but the just commenda-
tions of those great personages, whose singular wisdom and virtue
had made their lives famous and exemplary, and whose courage
in defence of their country had rendered their deaths honourable
and happy. — They made use of a peculiar measure in these songs,
when their army was in march towards an enemy, which being
sung in a full chorus to their Flutes, seemed proper to excite in
them a generous courage and contempt of death. Lycurgus was
the first who brought this militaiy Music into the field.
This agrees with what has already been related of the
Lacedaemonians and Arcadians in general, from Polybius (0); and
though there can be no doubt remaining of their use of Music in
militaiy discipline (p), in religious ceremonies and at public festivals,
yet it seems inconsistent that a people so selfish, and abound-
ing so much in national prejudices as the Spartans, should encourage
Music and Poetry in other countries, by being at the expense of
tempting such strangers as had cultivated those arts with the most
success, to come and practise them in their own (q).
The Musician Alcman, according to Athenaeus, was not more
remarkable for a musical genius, than for a voracious appetite;
and jElian numbers him among the greatest gluttons of antiquity (r).
The same author tells us of Aglais, a musical lady, who had no other
talent or occupation than that of sounding the Trumpet, and of
eating; however, the account of her usual repast is too marvellous
to be related, even after ^Elian.
But these are not the only musical personages in antiquity,
whose insatiable appetite is recorded by Athenaeus and Julian.
The disease called Bulimia (s), has not been confined to ancient
Musicians; it is not uncommon among the modern: but why a
sedentary employment, in which neither air, nor exercise, contri-
butes to sharpen the appetite of its professors, should be remarkable
for producing great hunger, and precipitating digestion, is not easy
to comprehend.
The tomb of Alcman was still subsisting at Lacedaemon, in the
time of Pausanias. But nothing, except a few fragments, are now
remaining of the many poems attributed to him by antiquity.
(o) P. 149 of this voL
(p) Agesilaus, being asked why the Spartans marched and fought to the sound of Flutes?
answered.that when all moved regularly to Music, it was easy to distinguish a brave man from a coward.
Plut. Lac. Apoph.
(a) Indeed, this is the case with respect to Singers in England ; we love good singing, but will not
be at the trouble or expence of establishing a school where our natives might be taught ; which a
little resembles the conduct of those men of pleasure, who, not having time or patience to mate low,
seek it where it can be purchased ready made.
(r) Perhaps he foresaw how great a family he should have to feed in future, for he is said to have
died like Pherecydes the philosopher, and preceptor of Pythagoras, of the pedicular disease.
(s) BovXtjuua vel jSovXtjLios the appetite of one that could eat as much as an ox.
VOL. i. 20 305
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The celebrated Bard ALC^SUS was born at Milylene, the capital
of Lesbos. He flourished, according to the Chronicle of Eusebius,
in the 44th Olympiad, that is to say, about 604 B.C., and was conse-
quently the countryman and cotemporary of Sappho, with whom,
it is pretended, he was violently enamoured (t).
Alcaeus was no more a hero than his predecessor Archilochus :
like him, he was a votary of Mars before he entered into the service
of the Muses; and, like him, he lost both his buckler and his honour
in the first engagement. He is much commended by Horace, not
the less, perhaps, from their similarity of genius, pursuits, and
military achievements («). If all his adventures had come down
to us, they must have been curious. After playing the lover, he
became a patriot; caballed with discontented citizens; subverted
the government; contributed to place Pittacus, one ^>f the seven
sages, at the head of it (*); then, regarding him as a rival, with
still more zeal and activity, joined the adverse party; composed
satires and libels against him, filled with the most bitter invectives,
and abusive language (y); attacked him in a pitched battle, in
which, his party being defeated, he became the prisoner of Pittacus,
who made no other use of the power which fortune had given him
over his life and liberty, that) generously to restore to him both.
Alcaeus, in setting up for a reformer of the state, undertook the
redress of grievances, not because they were grievances, but because
he himself was not the author of them. He seems to have been
possessed of a perturbed spirit; how such a spirit could be united
with the tranquil pleasures attending the study of Poetry and Music,
is difficult to say (z). After the failure of his political enterprises
he travelled into Egypt; but where his terrestrial troubles and
travels ended, is uncertain. With respect to those talents, which
entitle him to a place in this work, they have never been disputed;
(*} A verse of Alcsus, in which he insinuated to her his passion, is preserved in Aristotle, Rket.
A. L cap. 9. together with the fair damsel's answer.
ALC/EUS.
I fain to Sappho would a wish impart,
But fear locks up the secret in my heart.
SAPPHO.
Thy down-cast looks, respect, and timid air,
Too plain the nature of thy wish declare ;
If lawless, wild, inordinate desire.
Did not with thoughts impure thy bosom fire,
Thy tongue and eyes, by innocence made bold,
Ere now the secret of thy soul had told.
M. le Fevre observes, that Sappho was not in her usual good humour, when she gave so cold an
answer to a request, for which, at another time, perhaps, she would not have waited.
(«) —Relid&t non bcne, parmidd.-H.ar. Od. ii. vii z.
(*) In ancient times, philosophers did not dfadafa to undertake the cause of the people, in pulling
down tyrants — nor did they forget their own, so far as to refuse taking their place, when opportunity
offered ; for it appears, that, however, even a primitive patriot may have had the interest of the
public at heart, he seldom was unmindful of his own.
(y) Diog. Laert. lib. i. sect. 76. Val. Max. lib. iv. cap. L ex. 6.
(z) There is an instance, however, in our own times, of one of the most military and tyrannical
characters in Europe, not only cultivating both those arts, but extending his wish for universal
monarchy, to every *>»™g whence power, profit, or fame can be acquired.
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
for he is generally allowed to have been one of the greatest lyric
poets in antiquity; and as he lived before the separation of the
twin-sisters, Poetry and Music, this character must imply that he
was the friend and favourite of both. His numerous poems, on
different subjects, were written in the -3Eolian dialect, and chiefly
in a measure of his own invention, which has, ever since, been
distinguished by the name of Alcaic. Of these only a few frag-
ments remain. He composed Hymns, Odes, and Epigrams^ upon
very different subjects; sometimes railing at tyrants, and singing
their downfall; sometimes his own military exploits; his misfortunes;
his sufferings at sea; his exile; and all, according to Quintflian,
in a manner so chaste, concise, magnificent, and sententious,
and so nearly approaching to that of Homer, that he well merited
the Golden Plectrum bestowed upon him by Horace. Sometimes
he descended to less serious subjects, singing chearfully the praises
of Bacchus, Venus, Cupid, and the Muses. But however pleasing
his pieces of the lighter kind were thought, they were inferior to
his other poems, in the opinion of Quintilian (a).
The adventures of S^gHO, and the remains of her poetical
works, are too well known to require recital here. A musical
invention has, however, been attributed to her, of which it seems
necessary to take some notice.
This celebrated poetess is said by Plutarch, from Aristoxenus,
to have invented the Mixolydian Mode. It has already been shewn
in the Dissertation (&), that Lydian mode was the highest of the
five original modes, having its lowest sound, Proslambanomenos,
upon F#, the fourth line in the base. The Mixolydian was still
higher, by half a tone; the Hypermixolydian a minor third higher,
and the Hyperlydian a fourth higher. Plato, desirous of simplify-
ing music, and of keeping the scale within moderate bounds,
complains, in the third book of his Republic, of the licentiousness of
these acute modes. Now if the only difference in the modes was
the place they occupied in the great system, with respect to gravity
or acuteness, the invention, as it was called, of this Mixolydian
mode, may have been suggested to Sappho, by her having a voice
of higher pitch than her predecessors; she was, perhaps, the
Agujari of her time, and could transcend the limits of all former
scales with equal facility (c). But though nature may have enabled
this exquisite poetess to sing her verses in a higher key than any
one had done before, yet as it is allowed but to few to surpass
(a) Instit. lib. x. W R 53-
(c) Here the reader will probably reflect how much curious information, and how many interest-
ing gratifications of curiosity are, and ever have been, lost to posterity, from the unwillingness of
authors to inform the present generation of what it is supposed to know already, or to wnte as if they
expected their books would ever become obscure. It is from this cause that we are now in such doubt
concerning the Enharmonic Genus, Music in Parts, Modes, &c> which a word or two might have
cleared up; and if this History should reach a distant period, wfll not its readers wish to know some
particulars concerning Agujari ? how high she went ? and what were the other peculiarities of her
talents ? an opportunity will, perhaps, offer itself in the second volume, of ^^^^^T^
respect to the powers of this particular performer ; I wish it were as easy to satisfy it in other instances
where the scafltfoP?* 9? information may awaken it in vain!
307
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
the common boundaries of human faculties and talents, it is
probable that her successors, by attempting, with inferior organs, to
ascend those heights, had given offence to Plato, and determined
him to prohibit the use of this mode in his Republic, as indecorous,
and too effeminate even for women. If, however, it be true, that
the characteristic of the modes depended partly, if not principally,
upon the Rhythm or Cadence (d), it seems not an improbable
conjecture, that besides the difference of pitch, the novelty of
Sappho's Mixolydian mode might, in a great measure, consist in
her first applying to melody the measure called Sapphic* from her
invention of it (e).
This mode, as Plutarch informs us, was adopted by the tragic
poets, as proper for pathos, and lamentation (f); a character for
which it is not easy to account, without supposing other differences
besides those of mere Rhythm, or Pitch; though both Plato and
Plutarch evidently ascribe this character, in part, at least, to the
circumstance of acuteness (g).
About the beginning of the sixth century, before the Christian
zera, MIMNERMUS [//. c. 634-600 B.C.], according to Plutarch,
had rendered himself remarkable, by playing upon the Flute a
Nome called Cradias, which, Hesychius tells us, was an air for that
instrument, usually performed at Athens, during the march, or pro-
cession, of the victims of expiation. Mimnermus was a lyric poet,
and consequently a musician, of Smyrna, cotemporary with Solon.
Athenaeus gives to him the invention of Pentameter verse. His
Elegies, of which only a few fragments are preserved, were so much
admired in antiquity, that Horace preferred them to those of
Callimachus (h). He composed a poem of this kind, as we learn from
Pausanias, upon the battle fought between the people of Smyrna,
and the Lydians, under Gyges. He likewise was author of a poem
in elegiac verse, quoted by Strabo (*), which he entitled Nanno,
and in which we may suppose he chiefly celebrated a young and
beautiful girl of that name, who, according to Athenaeus, was a
player on the Flute, with whom he was enamoured in his old age.
With respect to love matters, according to Propertius, his verses
were more valuable than all the writings of Homer (ft). And
Horace bears testimony to his abilities, in describing that seducing
(d) See Dissertation.
W Integer trite scelerisaue pu'rus. HOR. Three verses of this kind, closed with an Adonic verse
consisting of a Dactyl and Spondee, form the Sapphic stanza.
(/) ^pijw&js. Plut. and Plato Rep. lib. iii.
(g) — o|«ta icat en-tnjfieio? Trpos Bptfvov. Pint, de Mils.
^That is,.awJe, and fit fnrfunend dirges. That the idea of grief should be connected with that of
high and shrieking tones, will not appear strange, when we recollect the ancient custom of Urine
women to lament at funerals. Feigned grief is ever louder than real ; but grief, both feigned and -boM
for, may easily be supposed to have forced its powers of execution and compass, beyond all the common
boundaries of scales and modes. ...... . .
(ft) Epist. lib. ii. Ep. 2. v. 101.
{») L&. xiv. p. 633, 634. Ed. Par.
(A) Plus in amors valet Miwnermi versus Homero. Lib! i.'Eleg. 9^ v. n.
308
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
passion (Z); alluding to some much admired lines of this Greek
poet, which have been preserved by Stobseus (m).
Poetry, and such music as the Greeks thought would most con-
tribute to its embellishment, must now, from all the improvements
which these arts had received since the time of Homer, a period
of more than two hundred years, have been arrived at a great
degree of perfection; and yet we find no lyric poets, whose works,
or names, have survived, between Mimnermus and STESICHORUS
[632-552 B.C.], a much respected Bard, who, according to
Athenaeus, was born at Himera in Sicily. His first name was Tisias;
but he acquired the tide of Stesichorus (n) from the changes he
made in the manner of performing the Dithyrambic chorus, which
was sung and danced round the altar or statue of Bacchus, during
the worship of that God. In what these changes consisted, it is
difficult to discover; luckily, it is a piece of knowledge of which
we stand in no great need at present (o).
Our latest chronologers agree in fixing the time of his death to
have been 556 B.C. A character of his numerous poems may be
seen in Quintilian (p), who speaks of them as subsisting in his time.
At present, only a few fragments of them remain. Among his
musical improvements, Plutarch enumerates the changes which he
made in the Harmatian, or chariot air, composed by Olympus (q).
SIMONIDES, who flourished about this time, is so frequently
celebrated by ancient writers, that it seems necessary to be some-
what particular in my account of him. There were in antiquity
many poets of that name; but by the Marbles it appears, that the
eldest and most illustrious of them was born in the 55th Olympiad,
538 B.C. [556-467 B.C.], and that he died in his ninetieth year;
(/) S» Mimn&rmits uti censet, sine amore jocisque,
Nil est jucundum, vivas in canore jocisgue.
Epist. vi. lib. L v. 65.
If, as wise Mimnermus said.
Life unblest with love and joy,
Ranks us with the senseless dead,
Let these gifts each hour employ.
(tn) Tts fie 0ios, n fie repirov arep xpucnj? 'A^poSt-njs, &c.
What is life and all its pride,
If love and pleasure be denied ?
Snatch, snatch me hence, ye Fates, whene'er
The am'rous bliss I cease to share.
Oh let us crop each fragrant flow'r
While youth and vigour give us pow'r;
For frozen age will soon destroy
The force to give or take a joy ;
And then, a prey to pain and care,
Detested by the young and fair,
The sun's blest beams will hateful grow,
And only shine on scenes of woe!
(»} Indeed Suidas says that he was so called, from being the first who accompanied a chorus with
KiQaptaSuj. — singing to the Lyre • or, for instituting a chorus that danced to the Lvre, accompanied
by singing. But whether the novelty was in the singing, or in the lyre, or both, is still to be inquired.
(o) Several of the epistles which go under the name of Phalaris, tyrant of Agrigentum, which
occasioned the well known dispute between Boyle and Bentley, in the beginning of the present century,
are addressed to Stesichorus.
{p) Instit. lib. x.cap.i.
(q) 'Ap/xarios vo/ios, so called, according to Hesychius, for its imitating the rapid motion of a
chariot wheel ; or, as being, from its fire and spirit, proper to animate the horses that draw the chariot,
during battle.
309
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
which nearly agrees with the chronology of Eusebius. He was a
native of Ceos, one of the Cyclades, in the neighbourhood of Attica,
and the preceptor of Pindar. Both Plato and Cicero give him the
character not only of a good poet and musician, but speak of him
as a person of great virtue and wisdom. Such longevity gave
him an opportunity of knowing a great number of the first characters
in antiquity, with whom he was in some measure connected (r).
He is mentioned by Herodotus; and Xenophon, in his Dialogue
upon Tyranny, makes him one of the interlocutors with Hiero king
of Syracuse. Cicero (s) alleges, what has often been quoted in
proof of the modesty and wisdom of Simonides, that when Hiero
asked of him a definition of God, the poet required a whole day
to meditate on so important a question; at the end of which, upon
the prince putting the same question to him a second time, he
asked two days' respite; and, in this manner, always doubled the
delay, each time he was required to answer it; till, at length, to
avoid offending his patron by more disappointments, he frankly
confessed tie found the question so difficult, that the more he
meditated upon it, the less was his hope of being able to solve it.
In his old age, perhaps from seeing the respect which money
procured to such as had lost the charms of youth, and power of
attaching mankind by other means, he became somewhat
mercenary and avaricious. He was frequently employed by the
victors at the Games to write Panegyrics and Odes in their praise,
before his pupil Pindar had exercised his talents in their behalf;
but Simonides would never gratify their vanity in this particular,
till he had first tied them down to a stipulated sum for his trouble;
and, upon being upbraided for his meanness, he said that he had
two coffers, in one of which he had, for many years, put his
pecuniary rewards; the other was for honours, verbal thanks, and
promises; that the first was pretty well filled, but the last remained
always empty. And he made no scruple to confess, in his old
age, that of all the enjoyments of life, the love of money was the
only one of which time had not deprived him.
He was frequently reproached for this vice; however, he
always defended himself with good humour. Upon being asked by
Hiero's queen, whether it was more desirable to be Learned or
Rich, he answered, that it was far better to be rich; for the learned
were always dependent on the rich, and waiting at their doors;
whereas he never saw rich men at the doors of the learned. When
he was accused of being so sordid, as to sell part of the provisions
with which his table was furnished by Hiero, he said he had done
it, in order " to display to the world the magnificence of that
prince, and his own frugality." To others he said, that his reason
for accumulating wealth was, that " he would rather leave money
(r} This may want explanation: And it appears in Fabricius, from ancient authority (Bib.
Greec. vol. i. p. 591) that Simonides was cotemporary, and in friendship with Pittacus of Mitylene ;
Hipparchus, tyrant of Athens; Pausanias, king of Sparta; Hiero, tyrant of Syracuse ; with
Themistodes ; and with Akuades, king of Thessaly.
{*) De Nat. Deor.
310
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
to his enemies, after death, than be troublesome to his friends,
while living."
He obtained the prize in poetry at the Public Games when he
was fourscore years of age.* According to Suidas, he added four
letters to the Greek alphabet; and Pliny assigns to him the eighth
string of the lyre; but these claims are disputed by the learned.
Among the numerous poetical productions, of which, accord-
ing to Fabricius, antiquity has made him the author, are many
songs of victory and triumph, for athletic conquerors at the
Public Games. He is likewise said to have gained there, himself,
the prize in elegiac poetry, when JiLschylus was his competitor
[489 B.C.].
His poetry was so tender and plaintive, that he acquired the
cognomen of Melicertes, sweet as honey (t)\ and the tearful eye
of his Muse was proverbial.
" Simonides," says an elegant modern writer, and excellent
judge of every species of literary merit, "was celebrated by the
ancients for the sweetness, correctness, and purity of his style, and
his irresistible skill in moving the passions — Dionysius places
him among those polished writers, who excel in a smooth volubility,
and flow on, like plenteous and perennial rivers, in a course of
even and uninterrupted harmony («)."
It is to Dionysius that we are indebted for the preservation of
the following fragment of this poet.** Danae being, by her merciless
father, inclosed in a chest, and thrown into the sea with her child,
when night comes on, and a storm arises, which threatens to
overset the chest, weeping, and embracing the young Perseus,
she cries out :
Sweet child ! what anguish does thy mother know,
Ere cruel grief has taught thy tears to flow!
Amidst the roaring wind's tremendous sound,
Which threats destruction, as it howls around,
In balmy sleep thou liest, as at the breast,
Without one bitter thought to break thy rest
While in pale, glimmering, interrupted light
The moon but shews the horrors of the night.
Didst thou but know, sweet innocent ! our woes,
Not opiate's pow'r thy eye-lids now could close.
Sleep on, sweet babe! ye waves in silence roll,
And lull, O lull to rest! my tortur'd soul.
There is a second great poet of the name of Simonides, recorded
on the Marbles, supposed to have been his grandson, and who
gained in 478 B.C. the prize in the Games at Athens.
(t) Mastitis laerimis Simonides. CATULLUS.
(«) See the Adventurer, No. 89.
* The fifty-sixth prize which he had 7011. He was given the surname " Melicertes " on account
of the sweetness and polish of his verse.
** Some others have since been discovered inscribed on an Egyptian papyrus.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
BACCHYLIDES was the nephew of Simonides, and the
coteraporary and rival of Pindar. Both sung the victories of Hiero
at the Public Games. Besides Odes to athletic victors, he was
author of Love Verses; Prosodies; Dithyrambics; Hymns; Paans;
Hyporchemes, and Partfienia, or songs to be sung by a chorus of
virgins at festivals. The chronology of Eusebius places the birth
of Bacchylides in the 82d Olympiad, about 450 B.C.
We are now arrived at that period of the Grecian musical
history when PIl^B^R became the poetical historiographer of the
champions at the Sacred Games; and his records of their achieve-
ments are more durable, than if they had been inscribed upon
Adamantine tables. The marble statues, towering columns, and
massive monuments, erected to the honour of these heroes, have
perished; and oblivion has swept away all memorials of them,
except those contained in the songs of this great poet.
Pindar* was born at Thebes in Baeotia, about 520 B.C. He
received his first musical instructions from his father, who was a
Flute-player by profession; after which, according to Suidas, he
was placed under Myrtis, a lady of distinguished abilities in
lyric poetry. It was during this period, that he became acquainted
with the poetess Corinna, who was likewise a student under
Myrtis. Plutarch tells us, that Pindar profited from the lessons
which Corinna, more advanced in her studies, gave him at this
school. It is very natural to suppose, that the first poetical
effusions of a genius so full of fire and imagination as that of
Pindar, would be wild and luxuriant; and Lucian has preserved six
verses, said to have been the exordium of his first essay, in which
he crowded almost all the subjects for song, which ancient history
and mythology then furnished. Upon communicating this attempt
to Corinna, she told him, smiling, that he should sow with the
hand, and not empty his whole sack at once. Pindar, however,
soon quitted the leading-strings of these ladies, his poetical nurses,
and became the disciple of Simonides, now arrived at extreme old
age; after which he soon surpassed all his masters, and acquired
great reputation throughout Greece; but, like a true prophet, was
less honoured in his own country, than elsewhere; for at Thebes he
was frequently pronounced to be vanquished, in the musical and
poetical contests, by candidates of inferior merit.
The custom of having these public Trials of skill, in all the
great cities of Greece, was now so prevalent, that but little fame
was to be acquired by a Musician or Poet, any other way than
by entering the lists; and we find that both Myrtis and Corinna
publicly disputed the prize with him at Thebes (x). The love of
fame produces more rancorous rivalry, than the love of money, or
even of woman. A public contention with Myrtis, his alma
(x) Apollon. Alexan. Lib. de Pronomtn. MS. ex Bib. Reg. Paris. No. 3243, d Fabric. Laud.
Bib. Grcec. torn, i p. 578.
* Early in life Pindar received lessons in flute playing from Scopelinus, a famous flute player
He was sent to Athens to study the art of poetry and became a pupil of Lasus of Hennione a noted
dithyxanibic poet.
312
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
mater, and with his sister student, Corinna, seems unnatural; but
there are few ties which can keep ambition within due bounds.
He obtained a victory over Myrtis, but was vanquished five
different times by Corinna (y). The judges, upon occasions like
these, have been frequently accused of partiality or ignorance, not
only by the vanquished, but by posterity: and if the merit of
Pindar was pronounced inferior to that of Corinna five several
times, it was, says Pausanias, because the judges were more
sensible to the charms of beauty, than to those of Music and Poetry
(z). Was it not strange, said the Scythian Anacharsis, that the
Grecian artists were never judged by artists, their peers?
Mortifications are at least as necessary to a young poet, as to a
young sinner. Pindar, before he quitted Thebes, had the vexation
to see his Dithyrambics traduced, abused, and turned into
ridicule, by the comic poets of his time; and Athenseus tells us
that he was severely censured by his brother Lyrics, for being a
Lipogrammatist, and composing an ode from which he had
excommunicated the letter S. Whether these censures proceeded from
envy, or contempt, cannot now be determined; but they were
certainly useful to Pindar, and it was necessary that he should
be lashed for such puerilities. Thebes seems to have been the
purgatory of our young Bard; when he quitted that city, as his
judgment was matured, he avoided most of the errors for which
he had been chastised, and suddenly became the wonder and
delight of all Greece. Every hero, prince, and potentate, desirous
of lasting fame, courted the Muse of Pindar.
He seems frequently to have been present at the four great
festivals of the Olympian, Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian Games,
as may be inferred from several circumstances and expressions in
the odes, which he composed for the victors in them all. Those at
Olympia, who were ambitious of having their achievements
celebrated by Pindar, applied to him for. an ode, which was first sung
in the Prytaneum, or town-hall of Olympia, where there was a
banquetting-room, set apart for the entertainment of the
conquerors. Here the ode was rehearsed by a chorus, accompanied
by instruments. It was afterwards performed in the same manner
at the triumphal entry of the victor into his own country, in
processions, or at the sacrifices that were made with great pomp
and solemnity on the occasion (a).
But, as some conquerors were not so fortunate as to have Poets
happened to be no Musician present, the leader of the chorus
chanted forth, and was answered by the rest of the chorus, in
for their friends, or so rich as to be able to purchase odes on their
particular victories, which were rated very high by Bards of the
(y) .Elian. Var. Hist. lib. xxiii, cap. 25.
(z) Lib. ix. cap. 22. Pausanias says, that Corinna was one of the most beautiful women of her
time, as he judged by a picture of her which he saw at Tanagris, in the place where the public exercises
were performed. She was represented with her head ornamented by a riband, as a memorial of the
victories she had obtained over Pindar at Thebes.
(a.) West's Dis. on the Olymp. Games, § 16.
313
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
first class; in honour of such, the old Hymn to Hercules, of
Archilochus, was sung by the friends of the conquerors only, if
they could not afford to engage a band of professed musicians.
The scholiast on Pindar's 9th Olympic tells us, that to supply the
want of a Citharoedist, Archilochus framed a word in imitation 01
the sound of a Cithara, which word (Tenella, TyreMa), when there
the words of the Hymn, Q KaMwixs, ZO.IQS, 0 glorious Victor,
hail I at every comma, or pause of which, this burden was again
repeated (6).
Pindar, in his second Isthmian Ode, has apologized for the
mercenary custom among Poets, of receiving money for their
Compositions. " The world," says he, "is grown interested, and
thinks in general with the Spartan philosopher Aristodemus, that
money only makes the man : a truth which this sage himself
experienced, having with his riches lost all his friends." It is
supposed that Pindar here alludes to the avarice of Simonides, who
first allowed his Muse to sell her favours to the best bidder. But if
the rich want wit and fame, and the Poet wants money, the
commutation seems as fair asany that is carried onupon the Exchange
of London or Amsterdam. It is in the true spirit of commerce to
barter superfluities for things of which we stand most in need; and
it can never be called a ruinous or losing trade, but when the rich,
for want of judgment or taste, purchase bad Poetry, or the Poet is
ill paid, for good. Gratian, among his maxims for raising a man
to the most consummate greatness, advises him to perform
extraordinary actions, and to secure a good Poet.
There is no great Poet or Musician in antiquity, whose moral
character has been less censured than that of Pindar. Plutarch has
preserved a single verse of his Epicedium, or Dirge, that was sung
at his funeral, which, short and simple as it is, implies great praise.
This man was pleasing to strangers, and dear to his fellow citizens
(c). His works abound with precepts of the purest morality;
and it does not appear that he ever traduced even his enemies;
comforting himself, for their malignity, by a maxim which he
inserted in his first Pythic, and which afterwards became proverbial,
That it is better to be envied than pitied (d).
(b) Ibid. Are we to suppose from this Trisyllable serving as a representation of the twang of a
lyre, that the instrument had only three strings in the time of Archilochus ? Indeed, as this poet lived
before either Terpander or Pythagoras had loaded it with seven or eight strings, a Tetrachord, or four
sounds, were its utmost extent in his time. Now it would be a research truly worthy the curiosity of
some profound musical antiquary, to try to discover which three sounds of the Tetrachord were
imitated, and by what intervals, and tone of voice, the word TeneUa could have been made a true
ArpeggieOura I Suidas tells us that this word had no signification, but was used as an imitation of a
particular way of striking the lyre (a kind of tol-de-rol flourish) when a victor was declared at the Games;
and the words -npeAAa, xoXXiwice, seem to have become, from this Hvmn of Archilochus, a common
form of congratulation, or rather acclamation ; the bravitsimo ! of the Greeks. Schmidt, in a note
upon the 9 Olymp. of Pindar, says the word rjjveAAa, after so many ages, is come down to his
countrymen the Germans, and is still in common use among musicians. Walthern in his Musical
Dictionary says the same, with this addition, that the ancient Germans made the same use of the
word Rondatinella, as the Romans did of io Triumph* ; singing it as a burden to songs of victory and
praise, and beating upon their shields. If the Germans use such a term in the same way as the ancients
in the time of Archflochus» the coincidence is curious, though no derivation be allowed.
(c) 'Awxsvos fa £eiwurtv aviyp 68e, icat ^tXos <wrro«. De AnwtJProc.
W) Kpcovw -yap oucnppw
314
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
Pausanias says, that the character of Poet was truly consecrated,
in the person of Pindar, by the God of verse himself, who was
pleased, by an express oracle, to order the inhabitants of Delphos
to set apart, for Pindar, one half of the first-fruit offerings, brought
by the religious to his shrine, and to allow him a conspicuous
place in his Temple; where, in an iron chair, he used to sit and
sing his Hymns in honour of that God. This chair was remaining
in the time of Pausanias, several centuries after, and shewn to
him as a relic, not unworthy of the sanctity and magnificence of
that place.
Such a Singer as Pindar would be heard with the same rapture
in a pagan Temple, as a Farinelli in an Italian church : and as
both would draw together crowded congregations, both would be
equally caressed and encouraged by the priests.
^But though Pindar's Muse was pensioned at Delphos, and well
paid by princes and potentates elsewhere, she seems, however,
sometimes to have sung the spontaneous strains of pure friendship.
Of this kind were, probably, the verses bestowed upon the Musician
Midas of Agrigentum, in Sicily, who had twice obtained the
palm of victory, by his performance on the Flute, at the Pythic
Games (e). It is in his 12th Pythic Ode, that Pindar celebrates
the victory of Midas over all Greece, upon that instrument which
Minerva herself had invented (f).
Fabricius tells us that Pindar lived to the age of ninety; and,
according to the chronology of Dr. Blair, he died in 435 B.C. [442
B.C.] aged eighty-six. His fellow-citizens erected a monument to
him, in the Hippodrome at Thebes, which was still subsisting in
the time of Pausanias; and his renown was so great after his death,
that his posterity derived very considerable honours and privileges
from it. When Alexander the Great attacked the city of Thebes,
he gav'e express orders to his soldiers to spare the house and family
of Pindar. The Lacedaemonians had done the same before this
period; for when they ravaged Baeotia, and burned the capital,
the following words were written upon the door of the Poet : forbear
to turn this house, it was the dwelling of Pindar. Respect for
the memory of this great Poet continued so long, that
even in Plutarch's time, the best part of the sacred victim, at the
Theoxenian festival, was appropriated to his descendants.
All the registers, in which the names and victories of the success-
ful candidates at the sacred Games were recorded, have been so
long lost, that no regular series of events at these solemnities can
be now expected : I shall, however, resume the subject, and give
the reader such farther information concerning them, as I have
(«) This Midas is a very different personage from his long-eared majesty of Phrygia, whose
decision in favour of Pan had given such offence to Apollo (see p. 227 of this vol.) as is manifest,
indeed, from his having been cotemporary with Pindar.
(/) The most extraordinary part of this Musician's performance, that can be gathered from the
scholiast upon Pindar, was his finishing the Solo, without a Reed, or Mouth-piece, which broke accident-
ally while he was playing. The legendary account given by the Poet in this Ode, of the occasion upon,
which the Flute was invented by Minerva, is diverting; "it was/' says he, "to imitate the howling of the
Gorgons, and the h's^ing of their snakes, which the Goddess had heard when the head of Medusa (one
of these three Anti-Graces) was cut off by Perseus."
315
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
been able to glean from ancient authors. Indeed the names and
feats of Musicians, that have been crowned at the public Games,
are not so difficult to find, as the time when they flourished; ana,
an event without a date to hang it upon, does but litter the mind
of the reader; it is a kind of vagabond, without a settlement, which
no one is willing to take in.
Plutarch, who on many occasions seems to have consulted the
registers of the sacred Games, tells us, in his life of Lysander the
Spartan general, that the Musician Aristonoiis, who had six times
obtained the prize for singing to the Cithara (g), in the Pythic
Games, flattered Lysander so far as tell him, that if ever he
gained another victory, he would be publicly proclaimed his disciple
and servant. This was after the Spartan had taken the city of
Athens, beaten down the walls, and burned all the ships in the
harbour, to the sound of Flutes; an event which happened in the
94th Olympiad, 404 years B.C.
Indisputable testimonies are to be found in ancient authors, of
the continuation of Musical Contests at these Games, till their final
abolition after the establishment of the Christian religion. I shall
only mention the victory which Pausanias (h) informs us was
gained there by Pylades, upon the Cithara, about the 94th Pythiad,
211 years before Christ: the Pythic Laurel, which both Suetonius
and Dio Cassius inform us, Nero, as a Citharcedist, who had been
victor at those Games, brought out of Greece, 66 years after the
same ^Era : and the two Pythic victories, recorded in the Oxford
Marbles, among innumerable others, which C. Ant. Septimius!
Publius, the Citharoedist, obtained during the reign of the emperor
Septimius Severus, about the end of the second century.
To the musical premiums given at Delphos, according to
Plutarch (*), was added, in later times, one for Tragedy; and, by
degrees, various other contests were admitted; among which, an
exhibition for Painters appears to have had a place (k) : and if
no premium was given to be disputed by Sculptors, the great
number of victors, whose statues they had to erect at the public
cost, must have been a sufficient incitement to them to aim at
excellence in their profession (I). But an account of any other art
or artists, than Music and Musicians, would lead me far beyond
the limits of my plan.
I shall close this article, therefore, by observing, that Games in
honour of Apollo, and called Pythic, were instituted, not only at
Delphos, but at Miletus in Ionia, at Magnesia, Sida, Perga, and
Thessalonica; and in all these, Music and Poetry were the chief
subjects of contest (m).
fe) Ei0ap<p&>; (h) In Arcad. lib. viiL
(*) Sympas. (ft) Plin. 35. 9-
(Z) Nero took thence five hundred bronze statues of Gods and illustrious personages ; and yet,
after this robbery, in the time of Pausanias, the number still remaining was prodigious, without
enumerating those which had been placed there to commemorate the merit of Athletics, Musicians
and Poets, in their particular professions.
(») Meursius, Gratia feriata.
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
Of the Nemean Qames
These Games, which had their name from Nemea, a village and
grove in Arcadia, were of such high antiquity, that the ancients
themselves, in the time of Pausanias, were not agreed concerning
the origin of their institution. Some assert them to have been a
funeral solemnity, instituted in honour of Archemorus, by the
seven champions who led the army to Thebes: others, that they
were founded by Hercules, in honour of Jupiter, after he had
slain the Nemean lion. The exercises were nearly the same as at
Olympia, as appears from the subjects of the Nemean Odes of
Pindar. However, that Musical Performances usually constituted
a part of*the exercises and amusements at this solemnity, is a fact
so fully ascertained by a passage in Plutarch's life of Philopcemen.
and corroborated by Pausanias, that I shall give the narration
entire, and leave it to speak for itself.
" Philopoemen being elected a second time general of the
Achasans, soon after he had gained the celebrated battle of Mantinea,
entered the theatre at the Nemean Games, while the Musicians
were disputing the Musical Prize. At the moment that Philopoemen
entered, the Musician Pylades, of Megalopolis, happened to be
singing to the Lyre, the beginning of a song composed by
Timotheus, called the Persians:
Behold the hero, from whose glorious deeds
Our greatest blessing, liberty, proceeds (n)\
The subject of the verse, the energy with which it was uttered,
and the beauty of the singer's voice, struck the whole assembly.
They instantly cast their eyes on Philopoemen, and, with the most
violent applause and acclamation, animated with the hopes of
recovering their former dignity, they assumed their ancient spirit
and confidence of victory. Pausanias adds, that they unanimously
cried out, that nothing could be more applicable than this poem
was to the brave general, who had undertaken to command their
aimy (o)."
Though no other particulars are preserved concerning the
Musician Pylades, than what Plutarch and Pausanias furnish, in
relating this circumstance, yet concerning Timotheus, whose verses
he sung, many incidents are come down to us, to some of which I
shall give a place here.
(ft) It is remarkable that the original of these lines is an Hexameter.
: ' ' . KXetvov e\«v0e/uaff r«vXw /xeyw EXAaSt teoa-fiov.
which confirms what has been advanced (p* sgoV concerning, the priority .of this verse, and, conse-
quently, of regular and unmixed Musical Rhythms, to metres of unequal feet> and Music of unequal
bars. Indeed, Plutarch asserts, expressly (4e M«s.) that the Nomes made to be sung to the.Cithara
were originally composed entirely of Hexameters ; and he alleges, Timotheus, the very author of the
verse in question, as a proof of it ; who/ though he was an innovator, yet did not venture to compose
his first Nomes entirely in Dithyrambic, or irregular -measures, but mixed them with Hexameters,
hoping to take, as it were by sap, the ears of old connoisseurs, so vigilant and well fortified against the
irruption of new pleasures.
(o) This event happened in the third year of the i43d Olympiad, 206 B,C.'
3*7
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
TIMOTHEUS, one of the most celebrated Poet-Musicians of
antiquity, was born at Miletus, an Ionian city of Caira, 346 B.C.
[446-357 B.C.]. He was cotemporary with Philip of Macedon,
and Euripides, and not only excelled in Lyric and Dithyrambic
Poetry, but in his performance upon the Cithara. According to
Pausanias (p), he perfected that instrument, by the addition of four
new strings to the seven which it had before; though Suidas says it
had nine before, and that Timotheus only added two, the tenth and
eleventh to that number.
The historical part of this work has hitherto consisted more of
biographical anecdotes, than dry discussions concerning the dark
and disputable points of ancient Music, which were purposely
thrown into the Dissertation, to keep off, as much as possible, that
lassitude and disgust which minute enquiries into matters, usually
thought more abstruse than interesting, produce in the generality
of readers. I must, however, now beg leave to stop the narrative
a little, in order to state the several claims made in favour of
different persons, who have been said to have extended the limits
of the Greek Musical Scale.
Many ancient and respectable writers tell us, that before the
time of Terpander, the Grecian Lyre had only four strings; and,
if we may believe Suidas, it remained in this state 856 years, from
the time of Amphion, till Terpander added to it three new strings,
which extended the Musical Scale to a Heptachord, or seventh, and
supplied the player with two conjoint Tetmchords.
It was about 150 years after this period, that Pythagoras is said .
to have added an eighth string to the Lyre, in order to complete
the octave, which consisted of two disjunct Tetrachords.
These dates of the several additions to the Scale, at such distant
periods, though perhaps not exact, may, however, if near the
truth, show tie slow progress of human knowledge, and the
contented ignorance of barbarous times. But if we wonder at the
Music of Greece remaining so many ages in this circumscribed
state, it may be asked, why that of Ch&ia and Persia is not better
now, though the inhabitants of those countries have long been
civilized, and accustomed to luxuries and refinements.
Boethius gives a different history of the scale, and tells us, that
the system did not long remain in such narrow limits as a
Tetrachord. Choraebus, the son of Athis, or Atys, king of Lydia,
added a fifth string, Hyagnis a sixth, Terpander a seventh, and, at
length, Lychaon of Samos, an eighth. But all these accounts are
ineconcileable with Homer's Hymn to Mercury, where the Chelys,
or Testudo, the invention of which he ascribes to that God, is said
to have had seven strings (q). There are many claimants among
the musicians of ancient Greece, to the strings that were afterwards
added to these, by which the scale, in the time of Aristoxenus, was
extended to two octaves. Athenaeus, more than once, speaks of
(p) Lib. ffi. cap. 12, (q} See p. 292.
3**
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
the nine-stringed-instrument (r); and Ion of Chios, a tragic and
lyric poet, and philosopher, who first recited his pieces in the 82d
Olympiad, 425 B.C. mentions, in some verses quoted by Euclid,
the ten-stringed Lyre (s); a proof that the third conjoint tetrachord
was added to the scale in his time, which was about fifty years
after Pythagoras is supposed to have constructed the octachord (t).
The different claimants among the Greeks to the same musical
discoveries, only prove that music was cultivated in different
countries; and that the inhabitants of each country invented and
improved their own instruments, some of which happening to
resemble those of other parts of Greece, rendered it difficult for
historians to avoid attributing the same invention to different
persons. Thus the single Flute was given to Minerva, and to
Marsyas; the Syrinx, or Fistula, to Pan, and to Cybele; and the
Lyre, or Cithara, to Mercury, Apollo, Amphion, Linus, and Orpheus.
Indeed, the mere addition of a string or two to an instrument
without a neck, was so obvious and easy, that it is scarce possible not
to conceive many people to have done it at the same time.
With respect to the number of strings upon the lyre of Timotheus,
the account of Pausanias and Suidas is confirmed in the famous
Senatus-Consultum against him, already slightly mentioned in the
Dissertation, but of which I shall here give a more particular
account.
This curious piece of antiquity is preserved at full length in
Boethius («). Mr. Stillingfleet (*) has lately given an extract
from it, in proof of the simplicity of the ancient Spartan music.
The fact is mentioned in Athenaeus; and Casaubon, in his notes
upon that author (y), has inserted the whole original text from
Boethius, with corrections, to which I refer the learned reader. I
shall here, however, give a faithful translation of this extraordinary
Spartan Act of Parliament.
" Whereas Timotheus the Milesian, coming to our city, has
dishonoured our ancient music, and, despising the Lyre of seven
strings, has, by the introduction of a greater variety of notes,
corrupted the ears of our youth; and by the number of his strings,
and the novelty of his melody, has given to our music an effeminate
and artificial dress, instead of the plain and orderly one in which it
has hitherto appeared; rendering melody infamous, by composing
(r) Ew€<xxop$ov opyavov. Lib. iv. & xiv. Theocritus, Id. viii. speaks of a Syrinx with nine
notes, (rvptyya ewea^ww ; but considering the extention of the Scale in his time, 262 B.C. it is
no great wonder if the simplest of instruments had a compass of nine sounds.
(S) A«caxop5<p Xvpa.
(t) Ion died, according to Fabricius, vol. i. p. 681, 419 B.C. and 78 years after Pythagoras.
Besides Tragedies and Dithyrambics, Ion composed Odes, Paans, Hymns and ScoKa, or convivial
songs. The three conjoint Tetrachords, Mes. Synem. and Diez. with which the Decachordon was furnished
consisted, perhaps, of these sounds : BCDE, EFGA, A Bj> c d.
(it) De Musica, cap. i.
(*) Pnn. and Power of Harm. § 185.
(y) Animad. in Athen. p. 386.
3*9
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
in the Chromatic, instead of the Enharmonic (z);-
The Kings and the Ephori have, therefore, resolved to pass censure
upon Timotheus for these things: and, farther, to oblige him to cut
all the superfluous strings of his eleven, leaving only the seven tones;
and to banish him from our city; that men may be warned -for the
future, not to introduce into Sparta any unbecoming customs." — ]
The same story, as related in Athenaeus, has this additional
circumstance, that when the public executioner was on the point of
fulfilling the sentence, by cutting off the new strings, Timotheus,
perceiving a little statue in the same place, with a lyre in its hand,
of as many strings as that which had given the offence, and
showing it to the judges, was acquitted.
Indeed the decree only informs us, that the use of a lyre, with
more than seven strings, was not allowed at this time by the
Lacedaemonians; but does not prove that the rest of Greece had
confined their music within the compass of seven notes; nor,
consequently, ascertain how many of the eleven strings were
additions peculiar to Timotheus. That the outcry against the
novelties of this musician was, however, not confined to Sparta,
appears from a passage in Plutarch's Dialogue, where he gives a
list of the innovators, who had corrupted and enervated the good
old melody, by additional notes both upon the Flute and Lyre (a).
" Lasus of Hennione,' ' says he, "by changing musical Rhythms
to the Dithyrambic irregularity of movement, and, at the same
time, emulating the compass and variety of the Flute, occasioned
a great revolution in the ancient music. Melanippides, who
succeeded him, in like manner, would not confine himself to the old
music, any more than his scholar Philoxenus, or Timotheus."
The same thing also appears from the bitter invectives to which
the comic poets at Athens, especially Pherecrates and Aristophanes,
gave a loose; not, perhaps, from understanding music, or being at
all sensible of its effects, but from that envy, which the great
reputation of the musician had excited. An exalted character is a
shooting butt, at which satirists, and wicked wits, constantly point
their arrows; and the stage at all times wages war against whatever
calls off the public attention from itself.
The abuse, therefore, of this musician, which abounds in
ancient authors, is perhaps, as great a proof of his superiority, as
the praise. A Greek epigram, preserved in Macrobius, informs us,
that the Ephesians gave him a thousand pieces of gold for
composing a poem in honour of Diana, at the dedication of the
temple of that Goddess; and was not that a sufficient reason for
hungry authors to rail?
(s) This part of the original is very corrupt ; the meaning, however, appears to be, that in a
contest at the Caruean festival, he had sung a poem upon the labour of Semele at the birth of Bacchus,
in which he had not sufficiently attended to decency and decorum.
(a) Plutarch accuses Lasus of imitating the many sounds, the iroXv^wwa of Flutes. And
Plato, in his Rep. Kb. in. inveighing against instruments of many strings, calls them imitations of the
Flute: avyow juro/iara; and in his third book, De Leg. he complains of the Lyre imitating the
Flute.
320
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
Plutarch tells us, that the comic poet Pherecrates introduced
Music on the stage, under the figure of a woman, whose body was
terribly torn and mangled. She is asked by Justice, under the
figure of another woman, the cause of her ill-treatment? when she
relates her story in the following words: " The first source of all
my misfortunes was Melanippides, who began to enervate and
debilitate me by his twelve strings. However, this would not have
reduced me to the deplorable condition in which I now appear, if
Cinesias, that cursed Athenian, had not contributed to ruin and
disfigure me in his Dithyrambic Strophes, by his false and untune-
able inflexions of voice. In short, his cruelty to me was beyond
all description; and next to him, Phiynis took it into his head to
abuse me by such divisions and flourishes, as no one ever thought
of before, making me subservient to all his whims, twisting and
twirling me a thousand ways, in order to produce from five strings,
the twelve different modes (b). But still, the freaks of such a man
would not have been sufficient to complete my ruin, for he was
able to make me some amends. Nothing now was wanting but the
cruelty of one Timotheus to send me to the grave, after maiming
and mangling me in the most inhuman manner." " Who is this
Timotheus?" says Justice.
MUSIC.
" 0 'tis that vile Milesian blade,
Who treats me like an arrant jade;
Robs me of all my former fame;
And loads me with contempt and shame :
Contriving still, where'er he goes,
New ways to multiply my woes :
Nay more, the wretch I never meet,
Be it in palace, house, or street,
But strait he strips off all my things,
And ties me with a dozen strings (c)."
(b) This passage seems manifestly to imply an instrument with a neck, by which the sounds of
five strings only, were multiplied to those of all the twelve modes ; and this was, probably, the first
attempt of the kind in Greece ; at least it is the first that I have seen upon record.
(c) This is a fragment from a comedy written by Pherecrates, called Chiron, and the only remains
of that poet ; and as Timotheus is accused by him "of multiplying the strings of the lyre to twelve, as
that instrument had ten before his time, it is probable that the two sounds he added were B; for the
Chromatic Genus, which he stands accused, by the Senatits-ConsuUum, of having introduced at Sparta ;
and the Nete Diezeugmenon, or sound £, upon the first line in the treble, which, though supposed to
have been added to the Scale by Pythagoras, may, perhaps, never have been heard by the Spartans,
before the arrival of Timotheus among them. If this conjecture be right, his Scale must have been
the following :
It appears from the above fragment, that Timotheus was not the first who used eleven strings, since the
Lyre of Melanippides was furnished with twelve, before his time. There were two Poet-musicians of
the name of Melanippides, both anterior to the elder Timotheus.
VOX. i. 21 321
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
It has already been remarked, that the word Enharmonic appears
in the copy of the Senatus-Consultum, inserted in the Oxford Edition
of Aratus, though no notice is taken of it by some translators. It
is likewise to be found, not only in the copy of this decree, which
Casaubon has given in his notes upon Athenaeus, but in a beautiful
MS. of the eleventh century, in the British Museum (d). If then
it is certain that the Lacedaemonians admired the Enharmonic
Genus for its simplicity, and yet reprobated the Chromatic for its
difficulty and effeminacy, does it not fortify the hypothesis
hazarded in the Dissertation, concerning the plainness and dignity
of the ancient Enharmonic?
It appears from Suidas, that the poetical and musical com-
positions of Timotheus were veiy numerous, and of various kinds.
He attributes to him nineteen Names, or Canticles, in Hexameters;
thirty-six Proems, or Preludes; eighteen Dithyrambics; twenty-
one Hymns] the poem in praise of Diana; one Panegyric; three
Tragedies, the Persians, Phinidas, and Laertes; to which must be
added a fourth, mentioned by several ancient authors, called
Niobe, without forgetting the poem on the birth of Bacchus.
Stephen of Byzantium makes him, author of eighteen books of
Nomes, or airs, for the Cithara, to eight thousand verses, and of a
thousand nQooipia, or Preludes, for the Nomes of the Flute.
A musician so long eminent as Timotheus, must have excited
great desire in young students to become his pupils; but, accord-
ing to Bartholinus, he used to exact a double Price from all such
as had previously received instructions from any other master;
saying, that he would rather instruct those who knew nothing, for
half price, than have the trouble of ^teaching such as had already
acquired bad habits, and an incorrect and vicious manner of
playing.
Timotheus died in Macedonia, according to Suidas, at the age
of ninety-seven; though the Marbles, much better authority, say at
ninety; and Stephen of Byzantium fixes his death in the fourth
year of the 105th Olympiad, two years before the birth of
Alexander the Great; whence it appears, that this Timotheus was
not the famous player on the Flute, so much esteemed by that
prince, who was animated to such a degree by his performance,
as to seize his arms; and who employed him, as Athenaeus informs
us (e), together with the other great musicians of his time, at his
nuptials. However, by an inattention to dates, and by forgetting
that of these two musicians of the same name, the one was a
Milesian, and the other a Theban (/), they have been hitherto
almost always confounded.
(4) Bib. R£$. 15 B. ix.
(/) Lucian Hannonid.
322
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
Of the Isthmian Qames [instituted c. B.C. 1326]
These Games were so called from the Isthmus of Corinth, where
they were celebrated. In their first institution, according to
Pausanias (g), they consisted only of funeral rites and ceremonies,
in honour of Melicertes; but Theseus afterwards, as Plutarch informs
us, (h), in emulation of Hercules, who had appointed Games at
Olympia, in honour of Jupiter, dedicated these to Neptune, his
reputed father, who was regarded as the particular protector of
the Isthmus, and commerce, of Corinth. The same trials of skill
were exhibited here, as at the other three Sacred Games, and
particularly those of Music and Poetry (i).
Livy relates a very interesting event which happened during
the celebration of these Games, after the Romans had defeated
Philip king of Macedon, one of the successors of Alexander the
Great, who had been in possession of the chief part of Greece.
The time, says this author, for celebrating the Isthmian Games
was now come. There was always a great concourse of people at
them, from the natural curiosity of the Greeks, who delighted in
seeing all kinds of combats and bodily exercises, as well as from
the convenience of the situation, between two seas, for the
inhabitants of different provinces to assemble. But being at this
time anxious to know their own fate, and that of their country, all
Greece flocked thither, the greater part silently foreboding the
worst, and softie not scrupling openly to express their fears. At
length the Romans took their places at the Games and a herald,
with a trumpet, in the usual manner, advanced into the middle of
the Arena, as if to pronounce the common form of words; but,
when silence was ordered, he proclaimed, " that the Roman
senate and people, and T. Quinctius Flamininus their general, after
vanquishing Philip and his Macedonians, declared the Corinthians,
Phocaeans, all the Locrians, the island Eubcea, the Magnesians,
Thessalonians, Perrhaebi, Achseans, and Phthiotes, all which states
had been possessed by Philip, free, independent, and subject only
to their own laws." The joy which this proclamation occasioned
in the assembly was, at first, too great to be expressed. The
spectators could scarce credit what they heard; they regarded each
other with astonishment, as if they had waked out of a dream.
Each diffident of his own ears, with respect to what particularly
concerned himself and his own country, asked his neighbour what
had been said. The herald was even called again, so strong a
desire had they all, not only to hear, but to see the messenger of
their liberty, and they had the satisfaction of hearing him repeat
the decree. When their joy was fully confirmed, they expressed
it in such loud and reiterated shouts of applause, that it was evident
(g) Initio Corintkiac.
(k) In Theseo.
(i) Plutarch, Sympos. lib. v. Quasi. 2. Julian, Epist. pro Argto. p. 408 D. Edit. Lips,
3*3
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
liberty was dearer to them than all the other advantages of life (ft).
After this the Games were celebrated, but with the greatest huny
and confusion; no one had eyes or attention for the spectacle;
every avenue of inferior pleasure was obstructed by joy (Z).
These Games, in which the victors were only rewarded with
garlands of pine-leaves,* were celebrated with great magnificence
and splendor, as long as paganism continued to be the established
religion of Greece; nor were they omitted even when Corinth
was sacked and burned by Mummius, the Roman general, at which
time the care of them was transferred to the Sicyonians, but was
restored again to the inhabitants of Corinth, when that city was
rebuilt.
Though every Grecian province had its peculiar Games, and
every great city its festivals, in many of which Poets and Musicians
contended for pre-eminence; yet, after bestowing so many pages
upon the four Sacred Games, I should extend my enquiries
concerning these institutions no farther, if a celebrated establishment
of this kind, among the Athenians, the most elegant, refined,
ingenious, and voluptuous people of Greece, did not, from the
frequent mention that is made of it in ancient authors, and the
renown of the combatants, seem to require particular notice.
Of the Panathencean Qames
There were two solemn festivals under this denomination at
Athens, the greater and the less; both of which were celebrated
there in honour of Minerva, the patroness of that city. They
must have been of very high antiquity, as their first institution
was ascribed to Orpheus (m), and to king Erichthonius (n)\ and their
renewal and augmentation to Theseus (0). The greater Panathenaa
were exhibited every five years, the less every three, or,
according to some writers, annually (£). Though the celebration
of neither, at first, employed more than one day, yet in aftertimes
they were protracted for the space of many days, and solemnized
with greater preparations and magnificence than at their first
institution.
Prizes were established there for three different kinds of combat :
the first consisted of Foot and Horse-races; the second, of Athletic
exercises; and the third of Poetical and Musical contests. These
last are said to have been instituted by Pericles: and that great
patron of arts and literature may have been the first who excited
emulation in Poets and Musicians, at this festival, by bestowing
rewards upon the most excellent; but, according to Plutarch (g),
(ft) Ptot. Vit. Flamin. says, the shouts of the people were so loud, that some crows which happened
to be flying over their heads, fell dead, into the Stadium,
(Z) Dec. 4. K&. zxxiii, cap. 32- (*») Theodora, Therapeut. lib. i.
(») Suidas, voc. Hayofcjwua. (o) Suid. ibid. (£) Tkucydid. lib. vi (q) De Mvsica.
* Later a crown of withered paisley was substituted.
324
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
who had consulted the Panathensean Register, Musical Perform-
ances were of much earlier date there than the time of Pericles.
Rhapsodists were appointed to sing the verses of Homer at these
Games, by Hipparchus, the son of Pisistratus.
Singers of the first class, accompanied by performers on the
Flute and Cithara, exercised their talents here, upon subjects
prescribed by the directors of these exhibitions. And while the
Athenian state was free and independent, the noble and generous
actions of Hannodius and Aristogiton, who had opposed the power
of the Pisistratidse, and of Aristobulus, who had delivered the
Athenians from the oppression of the thirty tyrants, imposed upon
them by the Lacedaemonians, were celebrated in these songs.
The first who obtained the prize here, on the Cithara, according
to the Marbles, was Phrynis,* of Mitylene, about 457 [probably
445] B.C. But this Musician was not equally successful when he
contended in these Games with Timotheus, who boasts, himself, of
a victory he had obtained over him, in some verses preserved, by
Plutarch (r).
There were premiums likewise given to players on the Flute,
an instrument long in the highest estimation throughout all Greece,
but in particular request at Athens; perhaps from the legendary
account of its invention by Minerva, the protectress of that city.
For though the pagan religion seems to have had but little effect in
restraining vice, and held out but few allurements to virtue, yet it
furnished its votaries with reasons for innumerable follies.
Aristotle (s) tells us, that the Flute, after its first invention, was
used by mean people, and thought an ignoble instrument, unworthy
of a free man, till after the invasion and defeat of the Persians 00;
when ease, affluence, and luxury soon rendered its use so common,
that it was a disgrace to a person of birth not to know how to
play upon it. Callias and Critias, celebrated Athenians, Archytas
of Tarentum, Philolaiis, and Epaminondas, were able performers
on the Flute. Indeed Music, in general, was in such favour, and
the study of it was thought so essential a part of education, at
Athens, in the time of Pericles an,d Socrates, that Plato (u) and
Plutarch (x) have thought it necessary to inform us of whom those
two great personages received instructions in that art. DAMON,
the Athenian, was the music master of both. The philosopher calls
him his friend, in a Dialogue of Plato, where Nicias, one of the
interlocutors, informs the company, that Socrates had recom-
mended, as a music master to his son, Damon, the disciple of
Agathocles, who not only excelled in his own profession, but
(r) De Laud. Sui. (s) De Repub. cap. vi.
(f\ Strabo says, it was the general opinion, that the Greeks had the chief part of their Music, and
Musical Instruments, from Asia and Thrace. And, according to Athenaeus, lib. xiii. p. 607, Music was
thought a necessary female accomplishment in the time of Darius : for this author tells us, that,
Pannenio wrote Alexander word, he had taken at Damascus three hundred and twenty-nine of the
Persian monarch's concubines, who were all skilled in Music, and performers on the Flute, and other
instruments.
(«) In primo Alcibiad. (*) In Perid.
* He is said to have added two strings to the heptachord.
325
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
possessed every quality that could be wished in a man to whom the
care of youth was to be confided (y).
Damon had chiefly cultivated that part of Music, which
concerns Time or Cadence; for which he is highly commended
by Plato (z), who seems to have regarded Rhythm as the most
essential part of Music, and that upon which the morals of a people
depended, more than upon Melody, or, as the ancients called it,
Harmony. He is also mentioned by Aristides Quintilianus, as
having excelled in characterizing his Melodies, by a judicious choice
of such sounds and intervals as were best adapted to the effects
he intended to produce (a).
Pericles [.d. 429 B.C.], the most accomplished character in
antiquity, was not only a consummate judge, but a great encourager
of all the arts. And in his life, written by Plutarch, we are told
that the Muses bore a principal share in all the public spectacles
with which he entertained the people. He not only regulated and
augmented the Poetical and Musical contests at the Panathenaean
festivals, but built the Odeum (6), or Music-Room, in which Poets
and Musicians daily exercised themselves in their art, and rehearsed
new compositions, before they were exhibited in the theatre.
It was Pericles, likewise, who invited to Athens ANTIGE-
NIDES, one of the most renowned Musicians of antiquity; of whose
life and talents such honourable mention is made in ancient authors,
that it seems necessary to give the reader some account of them.
According to Suidas, he was a native of Thebes, in Boeotia, and
the son of Satyrus, a celebrated Flute-player, who, as ^Elian tells
us, was so charmed with the lectures of the philosopher Ariston, that
upon quitting them, he said, " If I do not break my Flute, I hope
I shall have my head cut off." Antigenides was not the only one
of his country whose abilities upon that instrument had rendered
famous. The Thebans in general piqued themselves much upon
being great performers on the Flute. This is manifest from a
passage in DionChrysostom. "The pre-eminence," says he, "which
all Greece unanimously allows to the Thebans, in this particular,
has been constantly regarded by them as a point of great import-
ance, of which I shall give an instance. After the total ruin of
their city, which has never yet been rebuilt, no part of it being
now inhabited but the small quarter, called Cadmea, they gave
themselves but little trouble in restoring any of the public
monuments that had been thrown down or destroyed, one statue only
of Mercury excepted, which they took great pains to dig out from
(y) Lack. It was thought disgraceful for a gentleman not to be able to play upon the Flute.
Cornelius Nepos ranks it among the accomplishments of Epaminondas, that he could dance well, and
play on the Flute. But he was a Theban. It seems that Theban Flute-players, and Lesbian Lyrists
were always the most celebrated throughout Greece.
(*)
(a) Damon, according to Plutarch, was a profound politician, and, under the mask of a Musician
he tried to conceal from the multitude this talent. He was, however, involved with his patron
Pericles, in the political disputes of his time, and banished as a favourer of tyranny. The period when
he flourished, may be gathered from his connections.
(6) Plut. in Perid,
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
among the rubbish, and to erect again, on account of the following
inscription: '#AAac tusv O^pae vwav ngovxQivev av/.oig. — Greece
has declared that Thebes wins the prize upon the Flute. So that
this statue is still standing in the old public square, among the
ruins (c)."
Pronomus,* mentioned already (d}> as the inventor of a Flute,
upon which he could play in three different Modes, was a Theban.
Before his time, there was a particular Flute for every Mode or
Key: and so out of tune are the generality of modern Flutes, it
were almost to be wished that the custom had still continued. The
words and Music of a Hymn, composed by Pronomus for the
inhabitants of Chalcis, when they went to Delos, were subsisting in
the time of Pausanias, as was likewise the statue of this Musician,
erected by the citizens of Thebes, near that of Epaminondas (e).
Antigenides being, therefore, originally an inhabitant of a city
in which the Flute was held in such honour, and the son of a person
who had distinguished himself upon it, was the more likely to
become eminent in the same art; and he is said to have brought
it to greater perfection than any one of his time, by the lessons he
received from PHILOXENUS [435-380 B.C.], "This celebrated
Poet-Musician, was a native of Cythera, and author of a great
number of Lyric poems, which are entirely lost. His innovations
in Music are stigmatized by Plutarch, and the comic Poets of his
own time. He was so great an epicure, that he is said to have
wished for a throat as long as that of a crane, and all palate, in
order to prolong the relish of the delicious morsels he swallowed.
He was, however, as much celebrated for his jests as his gluttony.
Being served with a small fish, at the table of Dionysius of Syracuse,
and seeing an enormous turbot placed before the tyrant, he put
the head of the little fish close to his mouth, and pretended to
whisper it : then placed it close to his ear, as if to receive the
answer more distinctly. Upon being asked by Dionysius for an
explanation of this mummery, he said, "I am writing a poem,
Sir, upon Galatea, one of the Nereids; and as I want information
concerning several particulars relative to her father Nereus, and
the watry element, that are quite out of my ken, I was in hopes
of obtaining some satisfaction from this fish; but he tells me, that
he is too young and ignorant to be able to satisfy by curiosity, and
refers me to that grown-gentleman before your majesty, who is
much better acquainted with aquatic affairs." The tyrant under-
stood him, and had the complaisance to send him the turbot (/).
But though, from this instance, he appears to have been high in
(c) Oral. 7. p. 123. EdiL Paris. (rf) P. 66. (*) Pausan. in Bteoiic. cap. xii.
(/) It was of this glutton, that Machon, the comic Poet, cited by Athenams, told the story which
has furnished la Fontaine with a subject for one of his tales, and Pope with a point, at the end of one
of his characters.
A salmon's belly, Helluo, was thy fate ;
The doctor call'd, declares all help too late ;
" Mercy ! cries Helluo, mercy on my soul !
Is there no hope ?— Alas— then bring the jowL"
it Gave lessons in flute playing to Alcibiades.
327
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
favour with Dionysius, he afterwards proved so aukward a courtier,
that he preferred the labour of carrying stones from a quarry, to
the disgust of praising the bad verses of his patron.
Antigenides was, in his youth, according to Suidas, Flute-player
in ordinary (g) to Philoxenus, and accompanied him in the musical
airs which he had set to his own verses. Instructed by such a
master, it was no wonder that he should have, in his turn, disciples
of the first class himself, and be caressed by the greatest princes.
Pericles, who had undertaken the education of his nephew
Alcibiades, appointed Antigenides for his Flute-master. But Aulus
Gellius relates, from the History of Music, in thirty Books, by
Pamphila,* that his scholar Alcibiades setting up for a fine gentle-
man, and taking the utmost care of his person, was soon disgusted
with his instrument, as Minerva herself had been ^before; for
happening to see himself in a mirror, while he was playing, he was
so shocked at the distortion of his sweet countenance, that ^he
broke his Flute, in a transport of passion, and threw it away, which
brought this instrument into great disgrace among the young
people of rank at Athens. However, this disgust did not extend
to the sound of the Flute itself, since we find by Plutarch, that
the great performers upon it continued long after to be much
followed and admired (A).
It was Antigenides, according to Athenseus (i), who played upon
the Flute at the nuptials of Iphicrates, when that Athenian general
espoused the daughter of Cotys, king of Thrace: and Plutarch
attributes to him the transporting Alexander to such a degree, by
his performance of the Harmatian Air, at a banquet, that he
seized his arms, and was on the point of attacking his guests. The
same story has been told of Timotheus. The Lacedaemonians had
a song which said, that "a good performer on the Flute would
make a man brave every danger, and face even iron itself"
Notwithstanding this Musician was so high in reputation, he
seemed to regard public favour as a precarious possession, and
was never elated by the applause of the multitude. He endeavoured
to inspire his disciples with the same sentiments; and in order to
console one of them, who, though possessed of great abilities, had
received but little applause from his audience, " the next time you
play," said he "shall be to me and the Muses (k}." Antigenides was
so fully persuaded of the coarse taste of the common people, that
one day, hearing at a distance a violent burst of applause to a
(g)
(ft) Aristotle* after speaking of the introduction and progress of the Flute in Greece, and of its
universal use, gives a different reason for its being less in repute during his own time, than formerly.
" The Flute is now/* says he, " regarded as unfit tor young gentlemen, because not a moral instrument,
but adapted to enthusiastic and passionate Music, such as is improper for the sober purposes of educa-
tion.** Perhaps by moral, he meant such an instrument as the Lyre, to which Poetry and Morality
could be united by the person who performed upon it. But if we reflect upon the influence of fashion,
and the vanity of imitating the great, the cause assigned by A. Gellius for the disgrace of the Flute, is
more likely to have been the true one, than that given by Aristotle.
(t) Lib. iv. (ft) Cic. Brut.— Vol. Max.
* Flourished during the reign of Nero. His History of Music in 33 volumes has been lost.
328
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
player on the Flute, he said, " there must be something very bad
in that man's performance, or those people would not be so lavish
of their approbation."
Antigenides was author of many novelties upon the Flute. He
encreased the number of holes, which extended the compass of
the instrument, and, probably, rendered its Tones more flexible,
and capable of greater variety. Theophrastus, in his History of
Plants, has recorded how and at what season Antigenides cut the
reeds for his Flute, differently from former players on that instru-
ment, in order to have such as would express all the delicacy
and refinements of his new Music; and Pliny has translated the
passage (Z).
This Musician had great occasion for flutes, upon which he
could easily express minute intervals and inflexions of sound, since
according to Apuleius, he played upon them in all the modes:
upon the uEolian and Ionian, remarkable the one for simpGcity,
the other for variety; upon the plaintive Lydian; upon the
Phrygian, consecrated to religious ceremonies; and upon the Dorian,
suitable to warriors (m).
The innovations of Antigenides were not confined to the flute
only: they extended to the robe of the performer; and he was
the first who appeared in public with delicate Milesian slippers,
and a robe of saffron-colour, called Crocoton (n). Plutarch has
preserved a bon mot of Epaminondas, relative to Antigenides.
This general, upon being informed, in order to alarm him, that
the Athenians had sent troops into the Peloponnesus, equipped
with entire new arms; asked " whether Antigenides was disturbed
when he saw new flutes in the hands of TeUis?" who was a bad
performer.
DORION is mentioned by Plutarch as a Flute-player who had
made several changes in the Music of his time, and who was head
of a sect of performers, opponents to another sect of practical
musicians, of which Antigenides was the chief; a proof that
these two masters were cotemporaries and rivals (o). Dorion,
though much celebrated as a great Musician, and Poet, by
Athenaeus, is better known to posterity as a voluptuary. Both his
Music and Poetry are lost; however, many of his pleasantries are
preserved. Being at Milo, a city of Egypt, and not able to procure
a lodging, he enquired of a priest who was sacrificing in a chapel,
to what divinity it was dedicated, who answered to Jupiter and
to Neptune. How should I be able, says Dorion, to get a lodging
in a place where the Gods are forced to lie double? Supping one
(Z) Lib. xvi.
(m) Tibicen quidam fuit Antigenides, omnis vocula. meUeus, et idem omnis modi pTitus modificator ;
seu tu velles Molium simplex, seu Asiwn varium, sen Lydium querulum, seu Pkrygwm religiosum, sev
Dorium betticosum. Florida, § 4.
(n) Suidas Antigenid.
(o) It appears, from a passage in Xenophon, Memor iv. p. 4. that it was no uncommon thing fen
the Athenians to be divided into, what we should call, Fiddling Factions. Socrates discoursing upon
the advantages of concord in a state, says, " by concord, I mean that the city should agree, not in
causing the same Poet, or praising the same Flute-player, but in obeying the same laws.
329
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
night with Nicocreon, in the island of Cyprus, and admiring a
rich gold cup that was placed on the side-board, the goldsmith
will make you just such another, says the prince, whenever you
please; " he'll obey your orders much better than mine, sir," says
Dorion; " so let me have that, and do you bespeak another."
The remark of Athenaeus (p) upon this reply is, that Dorion acted
against the proverb, which says, that
To Flute-players, nature gave brains there's no doubt,
But alas! 'tis in vain, for they soon blow them out (q).
Upon hearing the description of a tempest, in the Nauplius of
Timotheus, Dorian said, he had seen a better in a boiling cauldron.
Having lost a large shoe at a banquet (r}> which he wore on
account of his foot being violently swelled by the gout, " the only
harm I wish the thief," said he, " is, that my shoe may fit
him."
His wit and talents made amends for his gluttony, and he was
a welcome guest wherever he went. Philip of Macedon, in order to
enliven his parties of pleasure, used frequently to invite him with
Aristonicus the citharcedist.
How great a demand there was at this time for Flutes, at Athens,
may be conceived from a circumstance mentioned by Plutarch, in
his Life of Isocrates. This orator, says he, was the son of
Theodoras, a Flute-maker, who acquired wealth sufficient by his
employment not only to educate his children in a liberal manner,
but also to bear one of the heaviest public burdens to which an
Athenian citizen was liable; that of furnishing a Choir or Chorus
for his tribe, or ward, at festivals and religious ceremonies (5).
The wealth of Theodoras will not, however, appear very extra-
ordinary, if we judge of the price of Flutes by that of ISMENIAS,
the celebrated Musician of Thebes, who, according to Lucian (t),
gave three talents, or 581Z. 5s. for a Flute, at Corinth. But this
celebrated Musician was as eminent for his extravagance, as for
his genius. He is recorded by Pliny («), as a prodigal purchaser
of jewels, which he displayed with great vanity; and was once very
angry that an emerald had been bought, in Cyprus, for less than
he thought the value of it, though purchased for himself; and said
to the person to whom he had given the commission, " You have
(p) Lib. viii. p. 338.
(q) AvSpt fLev avXTj-njpe ©etc voov eiaeve^vcrav : AXV a/xa TW <j&waz> x' » "<w>S «K*rerarat.
Most of the eminent Flute-players were Bseotians : Crasso in cure nati ; which seems to have given
rise to this epigram.
(r] This would be a strange accident, indeed, at a modern feast ; but was not extraordinary when
it was the custom to eat in a reclining posture, and when all the guests pulled off their shoes, that the
couches might not be dirtied.
te) Each tribe furnished their distinct Chorus ; which consisted of a band of vocal and instru-
mental performers, and dancers, who were to be hired, maintained, and dressed, during the whole
time of the festival ; an expence considerable in itself, but much encreased by emulation among the
richer citizens, and the disgrace consequent to an inferior exhibition. The fluctuations of trade and
public favour have rendered the business of boring Flutes far less profitable at present, than it was in
the time of Theodoras ; but then we have, in our own country, a Harpsichord-maker, as able to
maintain a Choir, as any dean and chapter of a cathedral
(t} Ad Indo'tom. («} Lib. acaocvii i.
330
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
done your business like a fool, and disgraced the gem." Plutarch
(x) relates the following story of him: being sent for to accom-
pany a sacrifice, and having played some time without the appear-
ance of any good omen in the victim, his employer became
impatient, and snatching the Flute out of his hand, began playing
in a very ridiculous manner himself, for which he was reprimanded
by the company; but the happy omen soon appearing, there ! said
he, to play acceptably to the Gods, is their own gift! Ismenias
answered with a smile, " While I played, the Gods were so
delighted, that they deferred the omen, in order to hear me the
longer; but they were glad to get rid of your noise upon any terms."
Thus we see that neither vanity nor impiety are peculiar to modern
Musicians.
Indeed, according to Xenophon, the Flute-players of these
times must have lived in a very splendid and magnificent manner.
" If," says he (y), "a bad performer on the Flute wishes to pass
for a good one, how must he set about it? Why he must imitate the
great Flute-players in all those circumstances that are extraneous
to the art itself. And, principally, as they are remarkable for
expending great sums in rich furniture, and for appearing in public
with a great retinue of servants, he must do the same."
With respect to the salaries of great public performers, a circum-
stance mentioned by Dr. Arbuthnot (z), from Athenseus, shews
that the profusion and extravagance of the present age in gratifying
the ministers of our pleasures, is not equal to that of the Athenians
during the times of which I write. For it is asserted that Amcebeus
the Harper, whenever he sung on the stage, was paid an Attic talent,
or 193 1. 15s. a day for his performance, though he lived, it is added,
close by the theatre (a).
The importance of the Flute is manifested by innumerable pas-
sages in ancient authors; among which there is one in Pliny that
is diverting and curious. In speaking of Comets, he says that
there were some in the shape of Flutes, which were imagined to
forebode some ill to Music and Musicians (&). And Montfaucon
proves by several inscriptions from ancient marbles, that the
sacrificial Tibicen, at Athens, was always chosen, and his name
recorded, with the officers of state (c). This Musician was called
Auletes, and sometimes Spondaula. His office was to play on the
Flute, close to the ear of the priest, during sacrifice, some pious
air, suitable to the service, in order to keep off distraction and
inattention during the exercise of his function (d). Indeed, there
(x) Sympos. lib. ii. q* r. (y) Metnor. Socrat.
(z) Tables of ancient coins, weights, and measures, p. 199.
(a) Roscius could gain only five hundred sestertia, or 40362. os. id. a year ; and when he acted
by the day, but four thousand nummi, or 322. 55. xod.
(b) Tibiarum specie, Mitsica carti porUndere. lib. ii. cap. 25.
(c) Suppl. torn. ii. p. 186.
(d) A similar custom is still preserved in the Greek church. " For, while the priest stands with
his face towards the east, and repeats the prayers, the choir is almost constantly singing hymns, and
he reads in so low a voice, for the most part, that the congregation is not supposed to pray themselves,
or to hear the prayers he offers ug on their behalf." Rites and Cerem. of the Creek Church, by Dr.
King, p. 46. Perhaps too, the musical performance in the churches of Italy, during the Mussttandi, or
M£ssa-bassa, had the same origin.
331
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
is no representation of a sacrifice, procession, banquet, or festive
assembly, either in ancient Painting, or Sculpture, without a
Musician. And the attendance of Flute-players at sacrifices was
so common in Greece, that it gave rise to a proverb, which was
usually applied to such as lived at the tables of others : You live
the life of a Flute-player (e). Because, as Suidas says, these
performers being constantly employed at sacrifices, where the
victims furnished them with a dinner, were at little or no expence
in housekeeping.
The list of illustrious Flute-players in antiquity is too numerous
to allow a separate article to each. However, a few, besides those
already mentioned, still hold their heads above the crowd, and
seem to demand attention. And among these, as a particular
respect seems due to Inventors, who, by genius or study, have
extended the limits of theoretical or practical Music, Clonas must
not be passed by unnoticed.
Plutarch (/), the only author by whom he is mentioned, tells
us, that Clonas lived soon after the time of Terpander [c. 620
B.C.], and was the first who composed Nomes for the Flute^ of
which he specifies three that were much celebrated in antiquity,
under the names of Apothetos, Schcenion, and Trimeres. This last
air, which was sung by a chorus, must have been much celebrated;
as Plutarch says that though the Sicyon Register gave it to Clonas,
yet others, among whom was Plutarch himself, had ascribed it
to Sacadas (g\.
Polymnestus, of Colophon in Ionia [fl. c. 675-644 B.C.], was
a composer for the Flute, as well as an improver^ of the Lyre; and
it appears to have been no uncommon accomplishment for these
ancient Musicians to perform equally well upon both these instru-
ments. Polymnestus is said to have invented the Hypolydian
Mode. This Made being half a Tone below the Dorian, which was
the lowest of the five original Modes (h), was, perhaps, the first
extension of the scales downwards, as the Mixolydian was,
upwards. Plutarch, who assigns to him this invention, accuses
him of having taken greater liberties with the scale than any one
had done before, though it is not now easy to discover in what
those liberties consisted (i).
(e) AvAirnw &iw &p. Suid. wee AuAip-ov. (/} DC Musica.
(g) The custom of giving names to times in antiquity, has long been adopted in France ; all the
harpsichord lessons of Rameau, and several other composers in that country, having particular
denominations affixed to them ; such as La Timide, La Pantomime, V Indiscrete, la Complaisant*, &c.
(h) See p. 53-
(*) What Plutarch says of him is, that he made the ocXvtrt? and the «c/3oAij much greater
than, they had been before his time. M. Burette, Mem. de LiU. torn. xv. has expended much learning
upon the words eicAwis and «c/3oAi7 to very little purpose. He has likewise, in his lon£ note
upon this passage, changed the place of all the Modes, without giving a reason for it, by making the
Dorian Mode correspond with £ natural, instead of D ; so that the Lydian, which this author has
himself frequently told his readers was F#, is now mounted up to G#. EjeAwis and ejc/SoAij, it
must be owned, are most perplexing words, as many Greek technical terms are now become. At the
time they were used, they could only have been familiar to artists ; few else, at present, know the
modern terms of art. From the definitions of Bacchius, and Axist. Quint, it appears that these terms
were peculiar to the Enharmonic ; that e/cAwis was a particular kind of tuning in the Enharmonic
Genus, in which, from a certain sound, the singer or player^ by an interval of three quarter-tones ;
and exjSoAq, when he rose by five quarter-tones. The words, at least, express something very violent
and unusual: ejcAvort?, dissolution; acjSoAij, throwing out, disjointing; it was the technical term
in ancient surgery for dislocation.
33*
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
Telepkanes was a celebrated performer on the Flute in the time
of Philip of Macedon. According to Pausanias, he was a native
of Samos, and had a tomb erected to him by Cleopatra, the sister
of Philip, in the road between Megara and Corinth, which was
subsisting in his time (&). Telephones was closely united in
friendship^ with Demosthenes, who has made honourable mention of
him in his harangue against Midias, from whom he received a
blow, ^ in public, during the celebration of the feast of Bacchus.
As this was a kind of musical quarrel, I shall relate the cause
of it.
Demosthenes had been appointed by his tribe to furnish a
Chorus (Z), to dispute the prize at this festival; and as this Chorus
was to be instructed by a master (m), Midias, in order to disgrace
Demosthenes, bribed the music master to neglect his function,
that the Chorus might be unable to perform their several parts
properly before the public, for want of the necessary teaching
and rehearsals. But Telephanes, who had discovered the design
of Midias, not only chastised and dismissed the music-master, but
undertook to instruct the Chorus himself.
After speaking of so many Flute-players of the male sex, it is
but justice to say that they did not monopolize the whole glory
arising from the cultivation of that instrument; as the perform-
ing upon it was ranked, in high antiquity, among female
accomplishments. Its invention was ascribed by the Poets to a
Goddess; it was the Symbol of one of the Muses; and it was never
omitted in the representation of the Sirens. However, the same
reason which provoked Minerva to throw it aside, has luckily
inclined modern ladies to cultivate instruments, in performing upon
which, their natural charms, instead of being diminished, are but
rendered still more irresistible.
The most celebrated female Flute-player in antiquity, was
LAMIA; her beauty, wit, and abilities in her profession, made
her regarded as a prodigy. The honours she received, which are
recorded by several authors, particularly by Plutarch and
Athengeus, are sufficient testimonies of her great power over the
passions of her hearers. Her claim to admiration from her
personal allurements, does not entirely depend, at present, upon
the fidelity of historians; since an exquisite engraving of her head,
upon an Amethyst, with the veil and bandage of her profession,
is preserved in the king of France's collection, which, in some
measure, authenticates the accounts of her beauty.
(ft) The Epitaph upon this Musician, which is preserved in the Anthologia, equals his talents to
those of the greatest names in antiquity.
Orpheus, whom Gods and men admire,
Surpassed all mortals on the Lyre:
Nestor with eloquence could charm,
And pride., and insolence disarm :
Great Homer, with his heav'nly -strain,
Could soften rocks, and quiet pain : —
Here lies Telephanes, whose Flute
Had equal pow'r o'er man and brute,
(1) See p. 330.
(m) Ai&MricaXo?.
333
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
As she was a great traveller, her reputation soon became very
extensive.* Her first journey from Athens, the place of her birth,
was into Egypt, whither she was drawn by the fame of the Flute-
players of that country. Her person and performance were not
long unnoticed at the court of Alexandria; however, in the conflict
between Ptolemy Soter, and Demetrius, for the island of Cyprus,
about 312 B.C. Ptolmey being defeated in a sea-engagement,
his wives, domestics, and military stories fell into the hands of
Demetrius.
Plutarch, in his life of this prince, tells us, that " the
celebrated Lamia was among the female captives taken in this
victory. She had been universally admired, at first, on account of
her talents, for she was a wonderful performer on the Flute; but,
afterwards, her fortune became more splendid, by the charms of
her person, which procured her many admirers of great rank." The
prince, whose captive she became, and who, though a successful
warrior, was said to have vanquished as many hearts as cities,
conceived so violent a passion for Lamia, that, from a sovereign
and a conqueror, he was instantly transformed into a slave;
though her beauty was now on the decline, and Demetrius, the
handsomest prince of his time, was much younger than herself.
At her instigation, he conferred such extraordinary benefits
upon the Athenians, that they rendered him divine honours; and
as an acknowledgment of the influence, which she had exercised
in their favour, they dedicated a temple to her, under the name
of Venus Lamia.
Athenaeus has recorded the names of a great number of
celebrated Tibicina, whose talents and beauty had captivated the
hearts of many of the most illustrious personages of antiquity; and
yet the use of the Flute among females seems to have been much
more general in Persia than in Greece, by the account which
Parmenio gives to Alexander of the female Musicians in the service
of Darius.
Horace speaks of bands of female Flute-players, which he calls
Ambubaiarum Collegia (n), and of whom there were still colleges
in his time (o). But the followers of this profession became so
numerous and licentious, that we find their occupation prohibited
in the Theodosian code; however, with little success : for Procopius
tells us that in the time of Justinian, the sister of the empress
Theodora, who was a Tibicina, appeared on the stage without any
other dress than a slight scarf thrown loosely over her. And these
performers were become so common in all private entertainments,
as well as at public feasts, obtruding their company, and placing
themselves at the table, frequently unasked, that, at the latter end
(n) Antbubcaa is said, by the commentators, to be a Syrian word, which in that language implies
a Flute, or ihe sound of a Flute.
[o) See p. 325, Note (/).
* It is probable that het reputation was based mere upon her profession of courtesan than upon
her ability as a flute player.
334
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
of this reign their profession was regarded as infamous, and
utterly abolished.
Among the most renowned Lyrists and Citharcedists of antiquity,
to whom a particular article has not been allowed, many have
been omitted for want of materials, as well as for want of room.
Anon has, however, already had a place in the Dissertation (p),
where the invention of Dithyrambic Poetry is ascribed to him.
Epigonius, a mathematician of Sicyon, and native of Ambracia,
is celebrated by the ancients for the invention of an instrument of
forty strings, which was called after his name, Epigonium. When
he lived is uncertain, but as it was in times of simplicity, we may
suppose that these strings did not form a scale of forty different
sounds, but that they were either tuned in Unisons and Octaves
to each other, or accommodated to different Modes and Genera.
The twelve Semitones of our three-stopt, octave-harpsichords,
include thirty-six different strings. The Magadis of twenty strings,
mentioned by Anacreon, had, probably, a series of only ten
different sounds, the name of the instrument implying a series of
octaves.* Magadizing was a term used, when a boy, or a woman,
and a man, sung the same part (q). The Simicum of thirty-five
strings, mentioned by Athenaeus, must have been of this kind,
like the arch-lute, double-harp, or double-harpsichord.
Crexus, perhaps, should have an honourable place here, being
recorded by Plutarch as the author of a considerable Invention;
that of an instrumental accompaniment, under the song (r):
whereas, before, says Plutarch, the accompaniment was note for
note (s).
Phrynis has already been mentioned (t) as the first who gained
the prize on the Cithara at the Panathensean Games. According
to Suidas, he was originally king Hiero's cook; but this prince,
chancing to hear him play upon the Flute, placed him, for
instructions, under Aristoclides, a descendant of Teipander. Phrynis
may be regarded as one of the first Innovators upon the Cithara
in antiquity («). He is said to have played in a delicate and
effeminate style, which the comic Poets, Aristophanes and
Pherecrates, ridiculed upon the stage. The former in his comedy
(£) P. 161.
(q) See p. 125. Athenaeus, lib. adv. p. 635, has fully discussed the use and properties of the
Magadis, and confirmed the opinion, that magadizing is singing, or playing in reciprocal sounds, or in
the octave, as Casaubon understands it. ^faJ^tov avntyoyyov. Aia TOO-OW.
(r) Kpouais inro TIJV uSi)v.
(s) HpotrvopSa. As Plutarch plainly opposes this accompaniment to that which was in use
before the time of Crexus, it can only be* understood as a kind of Bourdon, or Drone-Base, under the
voice part. A sense which appears to be supported by the use of the same phrase, in a Prob. of
Aristotle (the 4Oth) where he speaks of this accompaniment and the voice ending together. It could
not therefore have been a mere Ritornello, or Echo, to the voice part, as M. Burette interprets it,
taking inro to mean after, not under the voice.
(<) P. 3*5.
(«) See p. 321.
* It is not definitely known whether the magadis was a wind or stringed instrument. It is
usually understood to have been a many stringed harp so arranged that the octave passages could be
performed upon it.
335
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
of the Clouds, and the latter in the piece already mentioned (x).
Plutarch, who frequently applies the same story and apophthegm
to different persons, tells us (y), that when Phrynis offered himself
as a candidate at the public Games in Sparta, he had two strings
cut off his Lyre by the magistrates, in order to reduce them to
the ancient number. A similar disgrace to that which had
happened to Terpander before, and to which Timotheus was
forced to submit soon after.
Having now given an account of the principal, and most
celebrated Poet-Musicians of ancient Greece, it does not seem
necessary to interrupt the history of the Musical art with more
biographical articles, as too much or too little is known of all that
have been omitted. For such as Anacreon, /Eschylus, Sophocles,
Euripides, and Theocritus, who all flourished before the total
separation of Music and Poetry, though they must have been
Musicians, are omitted by design, as their lives have been so
frequently published in their works. And of such obscure names
as Anthes, Polyides, Xenodemus, Xenocritus, Telesilla, Rhianus,
Ibycus, and other Lyrics, no memorials remain that are sufficiently
interesting to entitle them to a particular niche in the Delphic
grove.
Between the time of Alexander the Great, and the conquest of
Greece by the Romans, but few eminent Musicians are upon record.
The Grecian states never enjoyed true liberty and independence
after the victory obtained over them at Cheronea, by Philip, the
father of Alexander: the chief of these states remaining after the
death of these princes, under the Macedonian yoke, till they called
in the Romans to their assistance; who, under Flaminius, as already
related, restored to them the shadow of liberty, which was gradu-
ally diminished by the victories and devastations of Mummius,
Sylla, and other commanders, till the time of Vespasian, who
reduced all Greece to a Roman province.
The result of such enquiries as I have been able to make, is,
that Music was progressive in Greece, as well as Painting, Poetry,
and Sculpture; though it advanced towards perfection by much
slower degrees than any of the other arts. Our curiosity,
however, concerning Greek Music is stimulated, and our patience
is enabled to pursue its improvements through a dull detail of
circumstances, by its being connected with those efforts of ancient
genius, taste, an,d refinement in other arts, of which sufficient
specimens remain to authenticate the accounts of what is lost. For
if no more substantial proofs were now subsisting of the excellence
of the Poetry, Eloquence, Sculpture, and Architecture of ancient
Greece,than of its Music, we should, probably, be as incurious and
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
incredulous about them, as we are, at present, concerning the Music
of the Spheres.
Before I conclude this chapter, perhaps a short recapitulation
of the most remarkable events in the history of this art in Greece,
of which the chain has been often unavoidably broken by
biographical articles, may save the reader the trouble of recollection.
It is natural to suppose that the first attempts at Music in
Greece, as well as in other countries, must have been rude and
simple (y); and that Rhythm, or Time, was attended to before
Tone or Melody. We accordingly find that instruments of percus-
sion preceded all others, and that the steps in the dance, and the
jeet in Poetry, were regulated and marked with precision long
before sounds were sustained or refined. When these two circum-
stances first engaged attention, the Flute imitated, and the Lyre
accompanied the voice in its inflexions of joy and sorrow. In
singing poetry, as little more was at first attempted than to prolong
the accents of the language, and of passion, the Flute required
but few holes, and the Lyre but few strings. As the Flute was the
eldest, and long the favourite instrument of the Greeks, its compass
was first extended; and the Lyre seems to have been confined,
during many ages, to a Tetrachord, after the Flute had multiplied
its sounds.
One of the most extraordinary circumstances in the history of
this art, to modern comprehension, is, that the Enharmonic Genus,
even with the diesis, or quarter-tone, was almost exclusively in use
before the time of Aristoxenus, the cotemporary of Alexander the
Great; in so much that it was customary with the old masters to
give their scholars Diagrams to practise of condensed scales, divided
into quarter-tones, as necessary exercises for the hand or voice (z).
These scales are mentioned in Aristoxenus, and examples of them are
still remaining in the writings of Aristides Quintilianus (a).
The artificial and difficult Enharmonic, however, seems to have
been lost soon after the time of Alexander the Great; at least
when Aristoxenus wrote, it appears to have been upon the decline,
while the Chromatic was daily increasing in favour (6).
The most important event in the history of Music, was the
establishment of Instrumental contests at the Pythic Games (c).
The Abbe Arnaud, in an excellent Dissertation on the Accents of
the Greek Tongue (d), is of opinion, that the irregularities we find
in the versification of the later Greek Poets, particularly the Lyric,
of a redundancy , or deficiency of one or two syllables in a verse,
(y) Nihil est enim simul inventum et perfedum. Cic. in Brutum.
(z) KaTttiruKvoMrts'— and KumruKvuxrcu TO Staypajtifia. Aristox. p. 7.
(a) My own astonishment at the use of this Genus, and the execution of these Scales, in antiquity,
is considerably abated by a letter, which the zeal and kindness of Dr. Russel has lately procured me
from Aleppo, in answer to some queries which he was so obliging as to send for me to that city,
concerning the present state of Music in Arabia. In this letter, besides many other curious particulars,
I find that the Arabian Scale of Music is divided into Quarter tones', and that an Octave, which upon out
keyed instruments is only divided into twelve Semi-tones, in the Arabian Scale consists of twenty-
four, for all which there are particular denominations.
(6) Aristox. p. 23- W See P- 302-
(<*) Mem. de Litterature, torn, xxrii. p. 432-
Vor,. i. 22 357
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
were admitted in order to indulge the instrumental performer, who
would naturally discover new measures, as his hand and instru-
ment advanced towards perfection.
While instruments were confined to the measure of the verse,
these liberties produced some variety in the Rhythm, without destroy-
ing the accent of the language; but as soon as Musicians were freed
from the laws of Prosody and metre, they multiplied the strings of
the Lyre, and the holes of the Flute, introducing new movements
more complicated and varied, with new intervals and uncommon
modulations. Lasus, Melanippides, Timotheus, Phrynis, and some
others, are mentioned by Plutarch among the first who dared to
apply these licences to song. However, they could only have been
suggested to them by great practice in instrumental Music, infi-
nitely more free than vocal, in every country, be the language what
it will, but especially in Greece, where the Measures and accents
of the language were governed by such rigid laws.
*c I disapprove/' says Aristotle, " of all kinds of difficulties in
the practice of instruments, and indeed in Music in general. I call
artificial and difficult, such tricks as are practised at the public
Games, where the Musician, instead of recollecting what is the true
object of his talent, endeavours only to flatter the corrupt taste of
the multitude (e)."
These were the sentiments of the learned, long after the separa-
tion of Music and Poetry, and these are the objections that still
recur, and ever will recur, to those who regard Music as a slave to
syllables, forgetting that it has a language of its own, with which
it is able to speak to the passions, and that there are certain
occasions when it may with propriety be allowed to be a free agent.
From this time Music became a distinct art; the Choruses, which
till now had governed the melody of the Lyrist and Tibicen,
became subordinate to both (/). Philosophers in vain exclaimed
against these innovations, which they thought would ruin the morals
of the people, who, as they are never disposed to sacrifice the
pleasures of the senses to those of the understanding, heard these
novelties with rapture, and encouraged the authors of them. This
species of Music, therefore, soon passed from the Games to the
Stage, seizing there upon the principal parts of the drama, and
from being the humble companion of Poetry, becoming her
sovereign.
With respect to the period of greatest perfection in the Music
of Greece, it is a subject which merits some discussion.
Plato, Aristotle, Aristoxenus, and Plutarch, were for ever com-
plaining of the corruption and degeneracy of Music. The pious
Plato, indeed, regarded it as fit only for the Gods, and their
celebration in religious ceremonies, or as a vehicle for religious and
(e) Repub. lib. viiL cap. 6.
8 *** preserv * Uttle V°S? b? Patinas, of theff#orcA«Kflkind, where he gives vent
""if $****** performance, in which, instead of tfaeftftfeftMt
s had accompanied the Tibicines ; TOVS avXijTuj w oWfietv rot*
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
moral lectures in the education of youth; and with a methodistical
spirit censured all such as was used in theatres, social festivity, or
.domestic amusement: but modern divines might, with equal
propriety, declaim against the profane use of bread as an aliment,
because it is administered in the most solemn rite of our religion.
A line should certainly be drawn between the Music of the church
and of the theatre; but totally to silence all musical sound, except
upon solemn occasions, seems to border upon downright fanaticism.
With respect to perfection and depravity, there is nothing so
common among musical disputants, as for the favourers of one
sect to call that Degeneracy, which those of another call Refine-
ment. But Plato seems to have been always too fond of ideal
excellence in everything, to be satisfied with any other (g).
It has been said by many writers, both ancient and modern,
that Plato was deeply skilled in the Music of his time; but it does
not appear that his claims to skill in this art extend further than
to mere Theory, or a very little more. Plutarch, indeed, in his
Dialogue, proves his profound musical science; but how? By a
long passage from his Timseus, in which he applies musical ratios
to the soul (h) I
However this may have been, it is difficult to refrain from
numbering this philosopher, together with Aristotle, Aristoxenus,
and Plutarch, though such illustrious characters, and, in other
particulars, such excellent writers, among the musical Grumblers
and Croakers of antiquity. They all equally lament the loss of
good Music, without considering that every age had, probably,
done the same, whether right or wrong, from the beginning of
the world; always throwing musical perfection into times remote
from their own, as a thing never to be known but by tradition.
The golden age had not its name from those who lived in it.
Aristotle, indeed, complains of degeneracy in a more liberal
way : " Every kind of Music," says he, " is good for some purpose
or other; that of the theatres is necessary for the amusement of
the mob; the theatrical transitions, and lie tawdry and glaring
melodies (i) in use there, are suited to the perversion of their minds
and manners, and let them enjoy them."
(g) His complaints of the degeneracy of Music, may be seen in his third Book of Laws. The
Poets, indeed, never fafl to charge the corruption of Music upon its professors, yet Plato throws the
blame upon the Poets themselves. " The Music of our forefathers," says he, " was divided into
certain species and figures. Prayers to the Gods were one species of song, to which they gave the
name of Hymns ; opposed to this was another species, which, in particular, might be called Thread ;
another, Paepnes ; and another, the birth of Dionysius, which I hold to be the Dithyrambus ; there
were also Citharcedic Nomi, so called, as being still another song. These, and some others, being
prescribed, it was not allowable to use one species of Melos for another. But, in process of time, the
Poets first introduced an unlearned licence, being poetic by nature, but unskilled in the rules of the
science, trampling upon its laws, over attentive to please, mixing the Threni with the Hymns, and the
Paeones with the Dithyrambi, imitating the Music of the Flute upon the Cithara, and confounding
all things with all." Plat de Legibus, as translated by Sir F. H. E. Stiles. Though it was Plato's
opinion that the government of a state, and the morals of a people, would be affected by a change
in the national music, yet this was not the opinion of Cicero, who in many other particulars is a rigid
Platonist : " Change," says this orator, "the government or customs of a city, and it will certainly
change the music." De Legib. lib. iii.
(K) What connection is there between Dr. Smith's Harmonics, and his taste and knowledge in
PraaicaL Music 1
(»*) MeAij ira/xw£exp«07i«j*. Ppttt. 8r
339
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The complaints of Aristoxenus are more natural than those oi
Plato and Aristotle; for he was not only less a Philosopher, but
more a Musician; and, as a professor, and an author on the subject
of Music, he must have had rivals to write down. Hesiod says
that bards hate bards, and beggars beggars (k). And it has been
the practice for writers on Music, in all ages, ^ to treat their
cotemporaries with severity and scorn. Gaspar Printz (I) inserts in
his book a canzonet in four parts, in which every rule of composi-
tion is violated, and calls it modem; as if error was always^ new.
But besides a natural tendency in human nature, or at least in the
nature of authors, towards envy and malignity, Aristoxenus had
a system to support, which is usually done at the expence of
moderation, truth, and everything that stands in its way (m); for,
like the tyrant Procrustes, the builder of a system, or the defender
of an hypothesis, cuts shorter what is too long, and stretches to
his purpose whatever is too short.
The music of the Greeks, in the time of Aristoxenus, was too
remote from perfection to be much injured by innovation and
refinement; and yet Athenaeus (ri) gives a passage from a work of
this writer, now lost, in which he makes the following complaints:
" I, and a few others, recollecting what Music once was, and
considering what it now is, as corrupted by the theatre, imitate
the people of Possidonium, who annually celebrate a festival after
the Greek manner, in order to keep up the memory of what they
once were; and before they depart, with tears deplore the
barbarous state into which they are brought by the Tuscans and
Romans (o)."
Plutarch frequently speaks of Music having been corrupted by
the Theatre, particularly in his Dialogue, where he says, " If we
look back into remote antiquity, we shall find that the Greeks
were unacquainted with theatrical music. The only use they made
of this art, was in praising the Gods, and educating youth. The
idea of a theatre had not then entered their thoughts, and all their
Music was dedicated to sacrifices, and to other religious ceremonies,
in which they sung Hymns in honour .of the Gods, and Canticles
in praise of great and good men."
It should be remembered here, that Plutarch was a priest of
Apollo : and, moreover, that what he, Plato, and Aristoxenus say,
concerning the injuries which Music had received from the theatre,
favours very much of cant and prejudice. Anthenaeus, on the
contrary, teUs us, that notwithstanding the complaints of
(ft) Life and Writings of Plato.
(Q Phrynidis, drifter Theil, p. 26.
(m) " Neither Gods nor men can stand before a system." Div. Leg. vol. iii.
(ri) Lib. adv. p. 632.
(o) Though Aristoxenus lived -with Alexander the Great, with Plato, and with Aristotle, when all
other arts and sciences had arrived at their greatest degree of force and refinement ; yet Music, from
whatever cause, does not seem, at that, or at any time, to have kept pace with other arts in its improve-
ments ; at least, it did not in Italy ; nor, indeed, in England or France, if we compare the Poetry of
Milton with the Music of Henry Lawes, or the writings of Racine and Boileau, with the compositions
ofLully.
54<>
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
Aristoxenus against theatrical corruption, others were of opinion,
that Music derived its principal improvements in Greece from the
theatre: and it seems natural, that the hope of applause, and the
fear of censure should operate more powerfully on the industry
and faculties of a composer or performer, than the idea of private
praise, or blame. And, if we may judge of ancient times by the
present, the theatre seems the place to develope all the powers of
Music, and to expand the talents of its professors. For it is at the
Musical Theatre, the modern Temple of Apollo and the Muses, that
perfection of various kinds is more frequently found, than any
where else. But old things do get violently praised, particularly
Music, after it ceases to give pleasure; or even to be heard; and
old people exclusively praise what pleased them in their youth,
without making allowance for their own want of judgment and
experience at that time, which, perhaps, joined to the disposition
of youth to be easily pleased, occasioned their former delight.
It is natural to suppose as Greek Music, like other arts, and
other things, must have had its~ infancy, maturity, and decrepitude;
that in second childhood, as its effects were more feeble, its
pursuits would be more trivial, than before its decline. Few great
actions were achieved by the Greeks after their total subjection.
However, they cultivated Music under the Roman emperors, under
their own, and are still delighted with it under the Turkish govern-
ment; but their Music is now so far from being the standard of
excellence to the rest of the world, that none but themselves are
pleased with it.
34 i
Chapter V
Of Ancient Musical Sects, and Theories of Sound
IN the Dissertation (a), the reader is promised a short history
of Temperament, and of the Philosophy of Sound, commonly
called Harmonics, as far as they appear to have been known
to the Greeks; and this seems to be the place to treat of these
matters.
No part of Natural Philosophy has, I believe, been more fruit-
ful of different Theories, or presented a more perplexing variety
of opinions to our choice, both in ancient and modern times, than
that which has Musical Sound for its object. The Greeks were
divided into numerous sects of Musical speculators before, and
after, the time of Aristoxenus: the Epigonians, Damonians,
Eratoclians, Agenorians, and many others enumerated by Porphyry,
in his Commentary upon the Harmonics of Ptolemy. Of ^ these,
however, all we know is, that they differed; it is perhaps little to
be lamented that we no longer know about what. The two great
and principal sects were the Pythagoreans, and Aristoxenians :
the founders of these, with Lasus, Euclid, and Ptolemy, were the
most illustrious Musical Theorists of antiquity. Of these,
therefore, and their doctrines, I shall speak separately.
Pythagoras
Posterity has been very liberal to this Philosopher in bestowing
upon him such inventions as others had neglected to claim,
particularly in Music; for there is scarce any part of it, as a science,
with which he has not been invested by his generous followers and
biographers. Musical Ratios have been assigned to him, with the
method of determining the gravity or acuteness of sounds by the
greater or less degree of velocity in the vibrations of strings; the
addition of an eighth string to the Lyre (&); the Harmony of the
Spheres (c); and the Greek Musical Notation (d). His right
indeed to some of these discoveries has been disputed by several
authors, who have given them to others with as little reason,
perhaps, as they had been before bestowed upon him.
But there is one discovery, relative to Music, that has, at all
times, been unanimously assigned to him, which, however, appears
to me extremely doubtful, not only whether it was made by him,
but whether in the manner it is related, it was ever made by any
one.
We are told by Nicomachus, Gaudentius, Jamblicus,
Macrobius, and all their commentators, " that Pythagoras, one
day meditating on the want of some rule to guide the ear, analogous
(a) Page 121. (6) Pliny, lib. ii. cap. 22. Censorinus, cap. xiii. p. 82.
(c) See p. 243. (d] Diss. sect, z and p. 292.
342
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
to what had been used to help the other senses, chanced to pass
by a blacksmith's shop, and observing that the hammers, which
were four in number, sounded very harmoniously, he had them
weighed, and found them to be in the proportion of 6, 8, 9, and 12.
Uppn this he suspended four strings of equal length and thickness,
&c., fastened weights, in the above-mentioned proportions, to each
of them respectively, and found that they gave the same sounds
that the hammers had done; viz. the fourth, fifth, and octave to
the gravest tone; which last interval did not make part of the
musical system before; for the Greeks had gone no farther than
the Heptachord, or seven strings, till that time (e}."
This is the substance of the account, as it has been lately
abridged by Mr. Stillingfleet, who points out many incredible
circumstances with respect to the story in general, and denies that
the weights 6, 8, 9, 12, would give the intervals pretended; but
seems not to have seen the least difficulty in the fact, relative to
different hammers producing different sounds upon the same anvil
(/)•
But, though both hammers and anvil have been swallowed by
ancients and moderns, and have passed through them from one
to another, with an ostrich-like digestion, upon examination and
experiment it appears, that hammers of different size and weight
will no more produce different tones upon the same anvil, than
bows, or clappers, of different sizes, will from the same string or
bell (g).
The long belief of this story proves that philosophers them-
selves have sometimes taken facts upon trust, without verifying
them by experiment. And as the tone of the hammers was
asserted without proof, so was the effect of their different weights
fastened to strings; this Galileo discovered (h). And Bontempi,
in trying the power of weights upon strings in the Pythagoric
proportions of 6, 8, 9, 12, found, that instead of giving the 4th,
(e) Principles and Power of Harmony, p. 8.
(/) The frontispiece to M. Marpurg's Hist, of Music, represents the Samian sage in the act of
weighing the hammers.
(g) Indeed, both the hammers and anvils of antiquity must have been of a construction very
different from those of our degenerate days, if they produced any tones that were strictly Musical.
Of the millions of well-organized mortals, who have passed by blacksmith's shops, since the tune of
Pythagoras, I believe no one was ever detained by a single note, much less by an harmonious \ concord,
from those Vulcanian instruments. A different kind of noise, indeed, will be produced by hammers
of different weights and sizes : but it seems not to be in the power of the most subtle ear to discover
the least imaginable difference, with respect to gravity or acuteness. But though different noises
may be produced from different bodies, in proportion to their size and solidity, and every rooin, chair,
and table, in a house, has a particular tone, yet these noises can never be ascertained ^like Musical
Tones, which depend upon reiterated and regular vibrations of the aliquot parts of a string, or other
elastic body * and in wind-instruments, upon the undulations of the air conveyed into a tube. Noise
may, indeed,' be forced from a musical string, or instrument, by violence ; but noise proceeding from
bodies non-elastic, or immusical, can never be softened into sound. M. Rousseauf has ingeniously
imagined that noise is of the same nature as sound, with this difference, that to produce sound, the one
tone, with its consonant harmonics only, should be heard j such as the 8th, rath, isth, and iTth;
whereas noise is produced by a jarring multitude of different tones, or even by one tone, when its
vibiraSons are so Violent as to rend£7udible a considerable number of dissonant tones of which the
vibrations seldom or never coincide ; such as the 7th, gth, nth, &c.
t Diet, de Mus. Art. BRUIT.
(ft) The numbers 6, 8, o, 12, applied to different lengths of strings, would, indeed, give thefctervals
men&ed. BS it is proved &a?to produce thc^tervaJs by the tension ot different w£gh£ the
weights must be the squares of those numbers ; that is, 36, «4, 81, 144. It» astomshmgTiow the
blunder had been echoed from author to author, without experiment, till the time of Galileo.
343
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
5th, and 8th of the gravest tone, they produced only the minor
3d, major 3d, and tritonus; so that the whole account falls to the
ground. But though modern incredulity and experiment have
robbed Pythagoras of the glory of discovering musical ratios by
accident, he has been allowed the superior merit of arriving at
them by meditation and design. At least the invention of the
Harmonical Canon, or Monockord, has been ascribed to him both
by ancient and modern writers (i).
I shall enter no deeper into this subject here, than is absolutely
necessary to explain the nature of the discovery attributed to
Pythagoras, to which Music is indebted for the honourable
appellation of Science] reserving for the second Book what use
has been made of it by modern theorists.
Pythagoras supposed the air to be the vehicle of sound, and the
agitation of that element occasioned by a similar agitation in the
parts of the sounding body, to be the cause of it. The vibrations
of a string, or any other sonorous body, being communicated to
the air, affected the auditory nerves with the sensation of sound;
and this sound, according to him, was acute or grave, in propor-
tion as the vibrations were quick or slow. It was also known,
by experiment, that of two strings equal in every thing but length,
the shorter made the quickest vibrations, and gave the acuter
sound; in other words, that the number of vibrations made in the
same time by two strings of different lengths, were inversely as
those lengths; that is, the greater the length, the smaller the
number of vibrations in any given time. By these discoveries it
was that sound, considered in the vibrations that cause it, and the
dimensions of the vibrating or sonorous body, was reduced to
quantity, and as such, became subject to calculation, and express-
ible by numbers. Thus, for instance, the two sounds that form
an octave, are expressed by the numbers 1 and 2; which represent
either the number of vibrations in a given time, or the length
of the strings; and mean nothing more mysterious than that the
acuter sound vibrates twice, while the graver vibrates once; or,
that the string -producing the lower sound, is twice the length
of that which gives the upper. If we consider the vibrations,
the higher sound is as 2, the lower as 1 : the reverse, if we consider
only the lengths. In the same manner, and in the same sense,
the 5th is expressed by the ratio of 2 to 3, and the 4th by that
of 3 to 4.
Such was the ancient philosophy of sounds, of which Pythagoras
is recorded as the first teacher. But how much of this theory
was founded on experiment and demonstration, and how much
of it upon hypothesis; how much of it was known, and how much
- - - ll6- Pfin' and Potoer °f Hafm R*5*' fos*Mathgm. par Montuda.
r^ Tentomen ,nooee Theor. Mus. and all the writers upon Harmonics and Temperament.
The . M onochard was an instrument of a single string, furnished -with moveable bridges, and
contrived for the measuring and adjusting the ratios of musical intervals by accurate divisions. Arist,
SSSb ^ZS ftat *? ^""Mntwaa i recommended by Pythagoras on his death-bed, as the musical
investigator, tne criterion or truth. It appears to have been in constant use among the ancients as
ttej only means of forming the ear to the accurate perception, and the voice to the true intonation of
those minute and difficult intervals which were then practised in melody.
344
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
taken for granted, cannot certainly be determined. The story
just now discussed is too much embarrassed with absurdities
and impossibilities to guide us to any probable conjecture, as to
the method by which Pythagoras actually arrived at his conclusions
(*)•
Indeed it was so late as the beginning of the present century (Z)
before this ancient theory of sound was fully confirmed, and the
laws of vibrations, and the whole doctrine of musical strings,
established upon the solid basis of mathematical demonstration.
The second musical improvement attributed to Pythagoras, was
the addition of an eighth string to the Lyre, which, before his
time, had onty seven, and was thence called a Heptachord. It is
supposed by several ancient writers, that the scale of this instru-
ment, which was that of Terpander, consisted of two conjoint
Tetrachords, E F G A B? C D; and that Pythagoras, by adding an
eighth sound, at the top, and altering the tuning of the fifth, formed
this scale: E F G A, B C D e, or a similar scale, consisting of
two disjunct Tetrachords (m).
(k) The discovery, as far as it relates to the length of strings, was easily made, because it depended
upon an obvious experiment. It was, likewise, easily perceived, that a short string vibrated with
more velocity than a long one ; but between the certainty of this general fact, and the certainty that
the vibrations were in a ratio exactly the inverse of the lengths, there is a considerable gulph. (See
Smith's Harmonics, sect, i, art. 7 and note f.) We have no account of the bridge upon which
Pythagoras got safely over. Experiment, here, is out of the question ; for the slovwst vibrations that
produce musical sound, are far too quick to be counted or distinguished. The inference, however was
natural, though it does not appear that the ancients were able to support it by strict and scientific
proof.
(Z) 1714. See Phil. Trans, and Methodns incrimentorum directa et inversa, by Dr. Brook Taylor.
(m) How this scale was generated by the Triple progression, or series of perfect 5ths, the Abbe
Roussier has lately very well discussed ia his Memoirs sur la Musique des Anciens. I shall endeavour
to explain what is meant by the triple progression in Music, which is tha basis of this ingenious
hypothesis ; referring the reader to the Mentoire itself for his proofs, as inserting them here would
require too much time and space for a work of this kind, not purely didactic.
Let any sound be represented by unity, or the number i ; and as the sd part of a string has been
found to produce the xsth, orocta\Te of the 5th above the whole string, a series of sths may be
represented by a triple geometric progression of numbers, continually multiplied by 3 ; as i, 3, 9, 27, 81,
243, 729 ; and these terms may be equally supposed to represent isths, or Sths, either ascending or
descending. For whether we divide by 3, or multiply by 3, the terms will be in the proportion of a
12th, or octave to the 5th, either way. The Abbe Roussier, imagining that the ancients sung then-
scale backwards, as we should call it, "by descending, annexes to his numbers the sounds following :
Term I II III IV V VI VII
13 9 27 Si 243 729
B E A D G C F
out of which series of sths, by arranging the sounds iu Diatonic order, may be formed the Heptachord,
or 7th, BCDEFGA ; and to these, adding the duple of the highest sound, in the proportion of 2 to i,
the Abbe" supposes Pythagoras acquired the octave, or Proslambanomenos. This is throwing a mite
into the charity box of poor Pythagoras, without, however, telling us in what reign the Obolum was
coined ; for I have met with no ancient author who bestows the invention of Proslambanornenos
upon this philosopher. The Abb£ does not let him or his followers. stop here, but supposes an 8th
term, 2187, added to the progression given above, by which a Bb was obtained, which furnished the
minor semitone below Bjj. The system of Pythagoras, according to the Abbe", was bounded by this
8th term, and the principle upon which it was built being lost, the Greeks penetrated no farther into
the regions of modulation, where they might have enriched their Music, but contented themselves, in
aftertimes, with transpositions of this series of sound.
The AbbS Roussier imagines, however, that though Pythagoras went no farther than the eighth
term in the triple progression, yet the Egyptians, in very high antiquity, extended the series to twelve
terms, which would give every possible Mode and Genus perfect. A curious circumstance is observed
by the same author, p. 28, § 47, with respect to the musical system of the Chinese, which well deserves
mention here. " In collecting," says he, " what has already been advanced concerning the original
formation of the Chinese system, it appears to begin precisely where the Greek left oft, that is, at the
Vlllth term of the triple progression, which is pursued as far as the Xllth term, by which series,
arranged diatonically, the Chinese acquire their scale, efr, Db, Bb, A|y, Gb, Ej>, in descending ; or, as
Rameau expresses the same intervals, in sharps, ascending, G$, A$, C$, D#, E$, g#." It is
observable that both these scales, which are wholly without semitones, are Scottish, and correspond
with the natural scale of the old simple Enharmonic, given p. 43. M. Jamard, a late French writer on
Music, pushing calculation still further than either the Egyptians or Chinese, has obtained, by pur-
suing the harmonic series, i, 2, 3, 4, &c., &c., not only the enharmonic diesis, but even the minute
intervals in the warbling of birds ; it is wonderful he did not apply his ratios to human speech.
345
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
After musical ratios were discovered and reduced to numbers,
they were made by Pythagoras and his followers, the type of order
and just proportion in all things : hence virtue, friendship, good
government, celestial motion, the human soul, and God himself,
were Harmony.
This discovery gave birth to various species of Music, far more
strange and inconceivable than Chromatic and Enharmonic: such
as Divine Music, Mundane Music, Elementary Music, and many
other divisions and subdivisions, upon which Zarlino, Kircher, and
almost all the old writers, never fail to expatiate with wonderful
complacence. It is, perhaps, equally to the credit and advantage
of Music and Philosophy, that they have long .descended from these
heights, and taken their proper and separate stations upon earth :
that we no longer admit of Music that cannot be heard, or of
Philosophy that cannot be understood.
Aristides Quintilianus assures us, that Music comprehends
Arithmetic, Geometry, Physics, and Metaphysics, and teaches every
thing, from solfaing the scale, to the nature and construction of the
soul of man, and the soul of the universe. To confirm this, he
quotes as a divine saying, a most curious account of the end and
business of Music, from one master Panacmus, which informs us
that the province of Music is not only to arrange musical sounds,
and to regulate the voice, but to unite and harmonize every thing
in nature (»). This writer, p. 102, in solving the question, whence
it is that the soul is so easily affected by Instrumental Music,
acquaints us, in the Pythagorean way, how the soul frisking about,
and playing all kinds of tricks in the purer regions of space,
approaches by degrees to our gross atmosphere; gets a taste for
matter and solidity, and at length acquires a warm and comfort-
able body to cover her nakedness. Here she picks up nerves and
arteries; there membranes; here spirit or breath; and all in a most
extraordinary manner; especially the arteries and nerves: for what
should they be made of, but the circles and lines of the spheres,
in which the soul gets entangled in her passage, like a fly in a
spider's web. Thus, continues he, the body becomes similar in its
texture to instruments of the wind and stringed kind. The nerves
and arteries are strings, and at the same time they are pipes filled
with wind. " What wonder, then," says Arist. Quint. " if the
soul, being thus intimately connected with a body simliar in
construction to those instruments, should sympathize with their
motions/'
Pythagoras is said, by the writers of his life, to have regarded
Music as something celestial and divine, and to have had such an
opinion of its power over the human affections that, according to
the Egyptian system, he ordered his disciples to be waked every
(n) Master Thomas Mace, author of a most delectable book caHed M usicWs Monument. would
have been an excellent Pythagorean; for he maintains that the mystery of the Trinity 1st
made plain by the connection of the three Harmonical Concords, i, 3, 5 : that Music and divinity are
nearly allied ; and that the contemplation of concord and discord, of the nature of the octave and
unison, wSL so strengthen a man's faith, " that he shall never after degenerate into that gross sub-
beaisncr ~~
346
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
morning, and lulled to sleep every night, by sweet sounds. He
likewise considered it as greatly conducive to health, and made
use of it in disorders of the body, as well as in those of the mind.
His biographers and secretaries even pretend to tell us what kind
of Music he applied upon these occasions. Grave and solemn, we
may be certain; and Vocal, say they, was preferred to Instrumental,
and the Lyre to the Flute, not only for its decency and gravity,
but because instruction could be conveyed to the mind, by means
of articulation in singing, at the same time as the ear was delighted
by sweet sounds. This was said to have been the opinion of
Minerva. In very high antiquity mankind gave human wisdom
to their Gods, and afterwards took it from them, to bestow it on
mortals (o).
Lasus
According to Suidas (£), was a native of Hermione, a city of
Peloponnesus in the kingdom of Argos. He flourished in the 58th
Olympiad, 548 B.C., and was the most ancient author known
who had written upon the theory of Music. But he did not confine
himself to theory; he became excellent in the practice of the art,
which then included Poetry, and all its dependencies; he was like-
wise a great Dithyrambic Poet, according to Clemens Alexan-
drinus (j), and the first who introduced that species of composition
in the public Games, where a premium was adjudged to him for
the performance of it. He first established public conferences or
disputations (r) upon scientific subjects, such as Philosophy, Poetry,
Mathematics, and particularly Music, both speculative and practi-
cal. If he was not the inventor of the circular Choruses or
Dances (s), which some have attributed to Arion, he improved them
at least, as the scholiast on Aristophanes (t), who gives his vouchers,
affirms (u).
As to the events of his life, which was rather a long one, but
little is known : we read, however, in Herodotus, that by the advice
of Lasus, the poet Onomacritus, to whom, by many, the poems
that go under the name of Orpheus are attributed, was banished
from Athens by Hipparchus, the son of Pisistratus. This poet,
who was a fanatic, and a mythological quack, pretended to find
predictions or oracles in the verses of Musseus, for those who were
curious in futurity. Lasus having ^discovered that this pretended
diviner ha4 surreptitiously inserted into the text of Musaeus a
(o) In perusing the list of illustrious men, who have sprung from the school of Pythagoras, it
appears that the love and cultivation of Music was so much, a part of their discipline, that almost
every one of them left a treatise behind him upon the subject. The life of this philosopher has been
so frequently written, and the events of it are so generally known, that it seems only necessary here to
remind the reader of his having been in Egypt at the time when Cambyses conquered that country ;
and that most chronologers place his death 497 B.C. at the age of seventy-one.
(p) Suid. voc. Acuros. (?) Stromat. lib. i. (r) Epurrueoi? Aoyoi?.
(s) Called eyjcvxXuaj' xopwv, (t) In amb. vers. 1403.
<M) The composers of the Music and Poetry, for these kinds of dances, were called KVjeAto&&i<ncaXot,
which the same scholiast explains by the word AtfopofLfioirotot, Dithyrambic Poets ; for both the
Poetry and Music of these dances, performed round the attar, were Dithyrambic.
347
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
prediction that all the islands in the neighbourhood of Lemnos would
be swallowed up, gave information of the forgeiy to Hipparchus,
who sent the impostor into exile, though he had before honoured
him with his confidence.
The productions of Lasus seem to have been numerous, both in
Poetry and Music. But nothing of his writing is come down to
us, except a few fragments that have been preserved in Athenaeus,
whose book, like the moon in Ariosto, has been the receptacle of
lost things. This author speaks of a Hymn written by Lasus
without the use of the sigma, or letter S. He likewise mentions
one of his Odes, called the Centaurs, remarkable for the omission
of the same consonant. These instances of his being a Lipogram-
matist, or letter-dropper, and of his particular enmity to the hissing
letter S, are greater proofs of his patience and delicacy of ear, than
of his genius or good taste. The late Dr. Pepusch (x) gave rules
for composing in ail keys without the intervention of flats or sharps;
but such is the obstinacy of the great poets and composers of this
age, that all the letters of the alphabet are indiscriminately used,
and flats and sharps are become more numerous than ever !
With respect to the musical discoveries of Lasus, both in theory
and practice, all that we know of them may be reduced to three
heads:
1st. Aristoxenus (y), in speaking of the nature of sound,
attributes to him, in common with certain Epigonians, a heterodox
opinion, that sound had a latitude (2). Meibomius is perplexed by
the passage, but is inclined to think it means only, that in sustain-
ing a note, the voice varied a little up and down, and did not
strictly keep to one mathematical line of tone. This explication,
however, is not satisfactory; for the expression naturaUy leads
to the idea of a Temperament] and seems to say that the intonation
of the scale admitted of some variety; in other words, that the
exact ratio of intervals might be departed from without offending
the ear (a). And what is said of Lasus by Plutarch, in his
Dialogue on Music, renders this idea still more probable. He is
there mentioned as a great innovator, who imitated the compass
and variety of wind-instruments; as well as Epigonius, who was
the inventor of the instrument of forty strings (6). Among the
corruptions complained of in the new Music, the frequent and
licentious transitions from one mode and genus to another, was not
the least. If therefore the object of this multiplication of strings
may be supposed to have been the convenience of having an
instrument ready tuned for all the modes, like our Harpsichords,
it seems probable that both Lasus and Epigonius might have been
(*) Treatise on Harmony, 1731. (y) Lib, i. p. 3. (z) nXaro? e^etv.
(a) This idea is greatly confirmed by the same expression, irAa-ros «x«, occurring in a passage
of Galen, quoted by Dr. Smith, p. 47, of his Harmonics, ist Edit. " It is probable," says Galenf " that
"i^t L7I£ ^*CGUrate toning is one, and individual ; but the practical tuning, irAaros &et, admits
of latitude." This passage, which is curious throughout, is quoted by Salinas, to prove that the ancients
had m practice a temperament, though it did not come in the way of theorists to speak of it in their
scientifical books.
(b) See p. 335.
348
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
Temperers, and have accommodated their doctrine to their
practice.
2dly. Theon of Smyrna testifies that Lasus, as well as the
Pythagorean Hippasus of Metapontus, made use of two vases of the
same size and tone, in order to calculate the exact ratio or propor-
tion of concords. For by leaving one of the vases empty, and
filling the other half full of water, they became Octaves to each
other: and filling one a 4th part full, and the other a 3d, the
percussion of the two vessels produced the concords of 4th and
5th: from which process resulted the proportions of these three
concords contained in the numbers 1, 2 3, 4 (c).
3dly. Lasus, according to Plutarch, introduced a dithyrambic
licence, or irregularity into Musical Measure, or Rhythm; and
upon his Lyre imitated the compass and variety of the Flute.
Aristoxenus [ft. c 318 B*C]
This is the most ancient writer on the subject of Music, of
whose works any tracts are come down to us. He was born at
Tarentum, a city in that part of Italy called Magna Grtecia, now
Calabria. He was the son of a Musician, whom some call Mnesias,
others Spintharus. He had his first education at Mantinaea, a
city of Arcadia, under his father, and Lamprus of Erythrae;
he next studied under Xenophflus, the Pythagorean; and lastly
under Aristotle, in company with Theophrastus. Suidas, from
whom these particulars are transcribed, adds, that Aristoxenus
enraged at Aristotle having bequeathed his school to Theophrastus,
traduced him ever after. But Aristocles the Peripatetic, in
Eusebius (rf), exculpates Aristoxenus in this particular, and assures
us that he always spoke with great respect of his master Aristotle.
From the preceding account it appears that Aristoxenus lived
under Alexander the Great, and his first successors.
His Harmonics* in three books, all that are come down to us,
together with Ptolemy's Harmonics, were first published by
Gogavinus, but not very correctly, at Venice, 1562, in 4to. with a
Latin version. John Meursius next translated the three books of
Aristoxenus into Latin, from the MS. of Jos. Scaliger, but, accord-
ing to Meibomius, very negligently. With these he printed at
Leyden, 1616, 4to. Nicomachus, and Alypius, two other Greek
writers on Music. After this Meibomius collected these musical
writers together, to which he added Euclid, Bacchius senior,
Aristides Quintilianus; and published the whole, with a Latin
version and notes, from the elegant press of Elzevir, Amst. 1652.
(c) This assertion, which has been taken upon trust, like the Anvil story of Pythagoras, is equally
false ; to tone glasses by water has been lately practised and thought a new discovery ; but that their
tones are altered in the proportions given above, is by no means true. Most glasses are lowered about
a whole tone, by being half filled with water, and not more than a major"6th if quite filled.
(<f) Praspar. lib. xv.
* An edition of the " Harmonics " edited by H. S. Macran was published by the Oxford Press
in 1902. ...
349
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The learned editor dedicates these ancient musical treatises to
Christina, Queen of Sweden.
Aiistoxenus is said by Suidas to have written 452 different
works, among which those on Music were the most esteemed; yet
his writings upon other subjects are very frequently quoted by
ancient authors, notwithstanding Cicero, and some others, say
that he was a bad philosopher, and had nothing in his head but
Music. The titles of several of the lost works of Aristoxenus,
quoted by Athenaeus, and others, have been collected by Meursius
in his notes upon this author; by Tonsius and Menage; all which
Fabricius has digested in alphabetical order (e). I shall here only
mention such as concern Music, which are upon subjects so interest-
ing to enquirers into the merits of ancient music, that their loss is
much to be lamented.
1. Of Performers on the Flute, and concerning Flutes and
other Musical Instruments (/).
2. Of the Manner of boring, or piercing Flutes (g).
3. Of Music in General In this work, which was different
from his Harmonics, he treated not only of the Rhythmical.
Metrical, Organical, Poetical, and Hypocritical parts of Music, but
of the History of Music, and Musicians (h).
4. Of the Tragic Dance (i).
With respect to the tracts of Aristoxenus that are come down
to us, they are cited by Euclid, Cicero, Vitruvius, Plutarch,
Diogenes Laertius, Athenaeus, Arist. Quintilianus, Ptolemy, and
Boethius. And as a musical writer he is so much celebrated by
the ancients, and so frequently mentioned by the moderns, that his
Treatises which are extant, seem to deserve a particular attention.
They are given by all his editors as divisions of one and the same
work; but the two first books are evidently independent fragments.
The second book is not a second, but another first part. It is
surprising that Meibomius, should regard it as a continuation,
and wonder in his notes, that Porphyry should quote the second
book as the first. The second book is plainly the opening of another
work, as appears by its beginning with an explanation of the
subject, and a sketch of the order in which the author proposed
to treat it, all which is done in the first book. It is likewise full of
repetitions. There appears, however, through the cloud of bad
readings, and all kinds of corruptions in the text, to be an
accuracy, and an Aristotelian precision in these old books, which
are not to be found in later writers, who seem to have all the
negligence and inaccuracy of compilers.
As Pythagoras and Aristoxenus were heads of the 6wo most
numerous and celebrated musical sects in antiquity, I shall
(e) Bib. Gneca, lib. iii. cap. 10, (/) nepi avXijTwy ij Trept at/Xcov «u opyamv.
(g) H«p« avW TpTerew?. (k)
(t) Hept rpaywofff opx>?<re6>$.
350
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
endeavour to make such of my readers as are curious in these
matters, acquainted with their different tenets.
The Pythagoreans, by their rigid adherence to calculation, and
the accurate divisions of the Monochord, may be said to have
trusted more to the judgment of the Eye, concerning the perfection
of consonance, than to that of the Ear (&). Intervals, according
to them, were consonant or dissonant, in proportion as the ratios
of the vibrations were simple or complex. Thus the octave was
more perfect than the 5th, because the ratio of 1 to 2 is more
simple, and more easily perceived, than that of 2 to 3: and the
5th, for the same reason, was more perfect than the 4th, f . It was
upon this principle that they allowed of no deviation from the
strict ratios of sounds. They left nothing to the uncertain judgment
of the ear, which they thought no more able to determine a
perfect consonance without a Monochord, than the eye to form a
perfect circle without compasses.
Aristoxenus, on the contrary, referred every thing to the Ear.
He thought the senses sufficiently accurate for Musical, though not
for Mathematical purposes (Z); and that it was absurd to aim at
an artificial accuracy in gratifying the ear, beyond its own power
of distinction. The philosophy of the Pythagoreans, their veloci-
ties, vibrations, and proportions, he rejected with contempt (m),
as being foreign to the subject; substituting abstract causes in the
room of experience, and making Music less the object of sense
than of intellect.
According to these principles, his doctrine maintained, that
concords were to be taken by the judgment of the ear only, and
other intervals of which the ear was less able to determine the
perfection, by the difference, or sum of concords (»). Thus the
Tone was the difference between the 4th and 5th: the Ditone was
taken by alternate 4ths and 5ths, as Ea, aD, DG, GC (o). Had he
stopped here, nothing could reasonably have been alledged against
him. But taking the Tone as a well known interval, of which
the ear, from the comparison of 4th and 5th, could judge with
sufficient exactness, he made it the measure of all other intervals;
of the greater by addition, and of the less by division. Thus the
4th contained, according to him, two Tones and a half; the 5th, 3
and J; the Octave, consequently, 5 Tones and 2 semitones, or 6
Tones. And, further, the Tone he divided into 2, 3, and 4 equal
parts. By this process, as it is justly objected to Him by Ptolemy,
he acted inconsistently with his own principles; pretending to trust
solely to the ear, and to exclude reason and calculation, at the
(ft) The Pythagoreans were distinguished in antiquity, by the appellation of Canonici, as being
governed by the Monochord, or Harmonic-Canon ; and the Aristoxenians by that of Musitit on account
of their taking only the ear and practice for their guides. Porphyr exvers. Wattis, Oper. Mathem.
torn. 111. p. 207.
(J) Aristox. p. 33. (m) Ibid. p. 32. (») Ibid. 55.
(a) This was not our consonant major 3d, but a dissonant interval, composed of two major
tones | x f.
351
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
same time that he was making a parade of both, in a way either
totally useless and nugatory, or more complicated and difficult
than that which he had rejected. If the ear is unable to determine
the exact ratio of a concord, still less is it able accurately to bisect
a tone; and that a tone cannot be numerically divided into two, or
more equal parts, has long been demonstrated (£). It can only be
done by geometrical and lineal methods, more operose than the
calculations of Pythagoras, and which, if accomplished, would give
only false, incommensurable, and tempered intervals (q).
Aristoxenus seems to have been led into this inconsistence by his
desire of distinguishing himself from the mere practical Musicians
of his time, of whose inaccuracy and want of science he frequently
speaks with great contempt.
The Pythagoreans, on the other side, were not without their
errors. Their principles were right, but they carried them too far,
and forgot that they could no otherwise be known to be right,
than as they were confirmed by the pleasure of the ear. How,
for instance, did they know that the ratio from 2 to 3 was that of
a perfect fifth but by the ear, which, upon repeated trial, found
that interval most harmonious when produced by strings in that
proportion? But it was the peculiar character of the Pythagorean
philosophy, to erect abstract numbers and proportions into physical
causes. Not content with pursuing their principle of the simplicity
of ratios, as far as experience warranted, and the ear approved,
they set it up as an a priori principle, and rejected intervals which
the ear pronounces to be concords, merely because they did not
fall within the proportions which they chose to admit. The
compound interval," for instance, of the 8th and 4th, though
undoubtedly concord, they would not admit as such, because its
ratio 3: 8, is neither multiple, nor superparticular, the only
proportions they admitted as consonant, on account of their
simplicity (r).
They are, besides, charged both by Ptolemy and Aristoxenus,
with sometimes assigning such ratios to intervals as the ear did
not approve; but no instance is given. It would be injustice,
however, to quit these famous musical theorists without acknow-
ledging that their physical doctrines concerning the production of
sound, and the causes of gravity and acuteness, have been con-
firmed, by modern philosophy, and their metaphysical speculations
concerning the causes of consonance, adopted by modern writers
of no inconsiderable reputation (5).
(p) This was demonstrated by Euclid, in his Sectio Cemoais, though a close follower of Aristoxenus,
in his Iniroductio Harmonica. To divide lie tone $ into two equal parts, is to find a mean proportional
between 8 and 9 ; which mean, being the square root of 72, is an irrational, or surd quantity. See
Dr. Smith's Harm. p. 100, note (y). And Elan, de Mus. par M. D'Alembert, Part I. chap. vii.
(q) See Dissert, p. 121.
(r) Multiple is, where the greater term contains the less, a number of times, as x : 2, x : 3, z : 4 ;
superparticular, where the difference is only i ; as 2 : 3, 3 : 4, &c.
(s) Descartes, Euler, Tent. prof. p. n, 12. Bufion, torn. vi. p. 54, 55, Svo.
352
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
Euclid
As Pythagoras was allowed by the Greeks to have been the first
who found out musical ratios, by the division of a Monochord, or
single string, a discovery which tradition only had preserved (t),
Euclid was the first who wrote upon the subject, and reduced
these divisions to mathematical demonstration.
This great geometrician flourished in the time of Ptolemy Lagus,
that is, about 277 B.C. His Elements were first published at
Basil, in Swisserland, 1533, by Simon Grynseus, from two MSS.
the one found at Venice, and the other at Paris. His Introduction
to Harmonics (u), which in some MSS. was attributed to Cleonidas,
is in the Vatican copy given to Pappus; Meibomius, however,
accounts for this, by supposing those copies to have been only
two different MS. editions of Euclid's work, which had been
revised, corrected, and restored from the corruptions incident to
frequent transcription by Cleonidas and Pappus, whose names
were, on that account, prefixed. It first appeared in print with a
Latin version, in 1498, at Venice, under the title of Cleonid&\
Harmonicumlntroductorium : who Cleonidas was, neither the editor,
George Valla, nor any one else pretends to know. It was John
Pena, a mathematician in the service of the king of France, who
first published this work at Paris, under the name of Euclid, in
1557. After this, it went through several editions with his other
works.*
His Section of the Canon (x) follows his Introduction} it went
through the same hands, and the same editions, and is mentioned
by Porphyry, in his Commentary on Ptolemy, as the work of
Euclid. This tract chiefly contains short and clear definitions of
the several parts of Greek Music, in which it is easy to see that
mere Melody was concerned; as he begins by telling us, that the
science of Harmonics considers the nature and use of Melody, and
consists of seven parts: Sounds, Intervals, Genera, Systems, Keys,
Mutations, and Melopceia; all which have been severally considered
in the Dissertation.
Of all the writings upon ancient Music, that are come down to
us, this seems to be the most correct and compressed : the rest are
generally loose and diffused; the authors either twisting and
distorting every thing to a favourite system, or filling their books
with metaphysical jargon, with Pythagoric dreams, and Platonic
\
(t) Indeed it is more than probable that Pythagoras acquired all his musical philosophy in Egypt, '
where he resided twenty-two years ; and the numbers 6, 8, 9. 12, which are exactly right, applied to
lengths and vibrations, being known to the Chaldeans, as Plutarch informs us, de Proc. Amm. is a
strong proof that the Pythagoreans did not first discover those proportions. ,
(«) Ewro^wyij ap/iovijo). (#) KaraTO/nj KCLVOVOS.
* The 1533 edition mentioned here was the first with Greek text. The first edition of a transla-
tion from the Greek was by Zambert in 1505 but a translation from the Arabic was published at Venice
in 1482. This last was based upon a translation made by Adelard of Bath (?) in the twelfth century.
Two books on music are generally attributed to Euclid, but there seems good reason to doubt his
authorship. They appear not to have been known before the time of Ptolemy, as they are not
Vox,, i. 23. 353
i GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
ancles, wholly foreign to Music. But Euclid, in this little treatise,
s like himself, close, and clear ; yet so mathematically short
tnd dry, that he bestows not a syllable more upon the subject than
s absolutely necessary (a).
According to Dr. Wallis (6), Euclid was the first who
demonstrated that an octave is somewhat less than six whole
;ones ; and this he does in the 14th Theorem of his Section of the
Oanon. In the 15th Theorem he demonstrates that a fourth is less
than two tones and a half, and a fifth less than three and a half ;
rat though this proves the necessity of a temperament upon fixed
instruments where one sound answers several purposes, yet he
gives no rules for one, which seems to furnish a proof that such
instruments were at least, not generally known or used by the
ancients.
What Aristoxenus called a half-tone, Euclid demonstrated to be
a smaller interval, in the proportion of 256 to 243. This he
denominated a limma, or remnant ; because giving to the fourth,
the extremes of which were called Soni Stabiles, and were regarded
as fixed and unalterable, the exact proportion of 4 to 3, and,
taking from it two major tones f X |, the Limma was all that
remained to complete the Diatessaron. This division of the
Diatonic Genus (c) being thus, for the first time, established upon
mathematical demonstration, continued in favour, says Dr. Wallis,
for many ages. But this will be further explained under the
subsequent articles.
Didymus [c 63 B.Q-A.D. 10]
Was an eminent Musician of Alexandria, and, according to
Suidas, cotemporaiy with the emperor Nero, by whom he was
much honoured and esteemed.* This proves him to have been
younger than Aristoxenus, and more ancient than Ptolemy,
though some have imagined him to have preceded Aristoxenus.
He wrote upon Grammar and Medicine, as well as Music ; but
his works are all lost, and every thing we know at present of
his harmonica! doctrines is from Ptolemy, who, by disputing,
preserved them. However, this author confesses him to have been
well versed in the canon and harmonic divisions, and if we may
judge from the testimony even of his antagonist, he must have
been not only an able theorist in Music, but a man of considerable
learning. As this Musician preceded Ptolemy, and was the first
(a) His object seems to have been the compressing into a scientific and elementary abridgment
the more diffused and speculative treatises of Aristoxenus. He was the D'Alembert of that author ;
explaining bis principles and, at the same time, seeing and demonstrating his errors. The musical
writings of Rameau were dt'ffnsftd, obscure, and indigested ; but M. D'Alembert extracting the essence
of his confused ideas, methodized his system of a Fundamental Base, and compressed, into the compass
of a pamphlet, the substance of many volumes. See Siemens de Musique, suivans les Principes de
Rameau.
(&) PkU. Trans. No. 242, and Lowthorp's Abridg. voL i. (c) See Dissert, sect. II.
* He was sumamed the " brazen-boweDed."
354
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
who introduced the minor tone into the scale, and, consequently,
the practical major 3d, %, which harmonized the whole system, and
pointed out the road to counterpoint, an honour that most critics
have bestowed on Ptolemy, he seems to have a better title to the
Invention of modepi harmony, or music in parts* than Guido, who
appears to have adhered, both in theory and practice, to the old
division of the scale into Major Tones and Limmas (d).
" The best species of Diapason," says Doni, " and that which
is the most replete with fine harmony, and chiefly in use at present,
was invented by Didymus. . . . His method was this: after the
major semitone E F. £4, he placed the minor tone in the ratio of ^,
between F G, and, afterwards the major tone f , between G A (e);
but Ptolemy, for; the sake of innovation, placed the major tone
where Didymus placed the minor (/)." Ptolemy, however, in
speaking of Didymus and his arrangement, objects to it as
contrary to the judgment of the ear, which requires the major tone
below the minor. The ear certainly determines so with us: is
it not therefore probable, that in Ptolemy's time the major key
was gaining ground? Upon the whole, however, it appears, that
these authors only differ in the order, not the quality of intervals.
Ptolemy
This great Astronomer and Musician, whose peculiar use of the
species of octave, and reformation of the Modes, have been
discussed in the Dissertation (g), seems the most learned, close, and
philosophical writer upon the subject of Music among the younger
Greeks (h). He appears to have been less shackled by authorities,
and a more bold and original thinker on the subject, than most
of his predecessors ; indeed he was not insensible of his own force
and superiority, for he treats all former musical writers and their
systems with little ceremony. Some parts of his disputes and
doctrines are now become unintelligible, notwithstanding all the
pains that our learned countryman Dr. Wallis bestowed on him
near 100 years ago, particularly his third book, which forms a
very striking contrast with the scientific solidity and precision of
the two first. The instant he sets his foot within his beloved circle,
the magic of it transforms him at once from a philosopher to a
dotard. He passes suddenly from accurate reasoning and
demonstration, to dreams, analogies, and all the fanciful
resemblances of the Pythagorean and Platonic schools: discovers
Music in the human soul, and the celestial motions: compares the
rational, irascible, and concupiscent parts of the soul, to the 8th,
(4) See his Micrologus, of which an account will be given in the second book of this History.
(e) It seems from this assertion as if there was a fashion, not only in Melody, but Harmony;
modern ears are best pleased with Ptolemy's arrangement, though Doni tell us, that in the last
century the Diapason of Didymus was most in vogue.
(/) Doni, Oper. Qmnia, torn. i. p. 349.
(g) P. 56. (h) Helflourished about A,D. 130.
355
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
5th, and 4th ; makes the sciences, and the virtues, some Diatonic,
some Chromatic, and some Enharmonic: turns the Zodiac into a
Lyre, making the equinoctial the key-note of the Dorian mode:
sends the Mixolydian to Greenland, and the Hypodorian to the
Hottentots!
He seems to have been possessed with an unbounded rage for
constructing new scales, and correcting those of former times.
He gives us no less than eight different forms of the diatonic scale,
three of which were his own ; the other five went under the names
of more ancient Musicians of great renown ; such as Archytas of
Tarentum, Aristoxenus, Eratosthenes, and Didymus. Most of
these scales seem but to differ in deformity, according to our
present ideas of harmony and temperament. Indeed there is only
one of them which modern ears could suffer, and concerning that
_it is necessary to be somewhat explicit.
Euclid, who first discovered that six major tones in the ratio of
f were more than sufficient to fill up the octave, gave two major
tones and a Limma to his Tetrachord ; which made the major
thirds intolerable. Didymus was the first who discovered that
whole tones were of two kinds, major and minor ; and, giving to
his minor tone the ratio of *£, divided his Tetrachord into major
semitone |f, minor tone ^, and major tone f , including the whole
series in the usual bounds of a true fourth f (i).
Ptolemy, near two centuries after Didymus had suggested the
major semitone, and minor tone, adopted them in one of his
divisions of the Diatonic 4th, but, changed the place of the minor
tone, arranging his intervals, suppose them to be these, B C D E,
in the following order and proportions : major semitone f|, major
tone !> minor tone ^, which, together, completed the fourth in
the usual, perfect, constant, and true ratio of |; and these are the
famous proportions of the intervals proposed in that system of
Ptolemy which is known to theorists by the name of Diatonum
Intensum, or Sharp Diatonic ; and which, long after his time, was
received in our counterpoint, and is pronounced by Dr. Wallis,
Dr. Smith, and the most eminent writers on Harmonics, to be the
best division of the musical scale (k).
This arrangement of Ptolemy has been considered by some
(t) This arrangement has been censured by Padre Martini, and with reason, if a Major Key and
Counterpoint had been in question ; but, as the Abbe Roussier justly observes, a Minor Key, and
Simple Melody, were alone considered at that time. The minor tone, from C to D, therefore, had this
convenience, that it rendered D a true 5th below Mese, the central string of the Lyre, which regulated
the whole system, and to which all the other strings were tuned, as well as the octave above Proslam-
banomenos, the fundamental note of every Mode. (See Dissert, p. 29.) When the Major Tone is from
C to D, and the minor from D to B, as in Ptolemy's arrangement, this cannot be the case ; for then
the 5th from D to a, will contain only two minor tones, one major, and a major semitone, instead of
two major tones, one minor, and a major semitone, of which every perfect 5th, in the ratio f, is
composed.
(ft) The intervals in our key of C natural, when made perfect, are in the following proportions,
ascending : i, f , &, if, |, -&, |, ft, ; that is, giving to the octave three major tones, two minor tones,
and two major semitones, arranged in this order : from the key note to the 2d of the key, a major
tone ; from, the 2nd to the sd of the key, a minor tone ; from the 3d to the 4th a major semitone ;
from the 4th to the 5th, a major tone: from the sth to the 6th, a minor tone; from the 6th to the 7th,
a major tone ; and from the 7th to the octave, or 8th, a major semitone. And no sharp key can be
perfect, but by being tuned in the same manner ; and yet, where to place the Minor Tone has
occasioned endless disputes among writers on Temperament. De Moxvre, m his Doctrine of Chances ,
gives 210 permutations to these intervals T, T, T, t, t, H, H.
356
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
writers as a Temperament (Z), on account of his departing from the
just proportion of some of the 5ths, in order to give perfection to
3ds and 6ths. This temperament, however, if it may be so called,
is become to us the standard of perfection, and every deviation
from it, in the modern eense of the word, is now called tempera-
ment (m). If temperament implies imperfection, and the alteration
of intervals from those proportions which best satisfy tEe ear; and
if those scales are the most, though not the best tempered, which
most offend the ear, the word is in that sense chiefly applicable to
the old Pythagorean Diatonic, adopted by Euclid, and to the other
numerous divisions above mentioned.
The scale of the Pythagoreans was indeed founded upon some
principle; being, as the abbe Roussier has shewn, produced by a
series of perfect 5ths; but the other divisions seem to have been
the produce of random experiment, and unmusical calculation, and
were as various and unfit for use, as want of principle could make
them. Scarce any rule seems to have been observed, but that of
keeping the Soni Stantes, the boundaries of the Tetrachords,
unmoved from their just ratio of f . The ancient theorists revenged
themselves, however, for this confinement by every kind of licence
in the disposition of the two remaining sounds : the various tunings
of which constituted what they called the XQOCU, the colours or
shades of the three genera. In these, all kinds of intervals seem to
have been admitted, provided they. were but rational, that is,
expressible by numbers (ri).
Aristoxenus did not confine himself even to this rule; for his
equal divisions were neither reducible to rational numbers, nor were
the vibrations of his intervals, if they could have been put in prac-
tice, commensurable. Music, however, was more obliged to him
for the invention of a method which it must be allowed left every
thing to the guidance of the ear, uncertain as it may be, than to
those mathematical speculators who furnished it with so many
accurate and demonstrable rules for being infallibly out of tune (o).
Ptolemy having a facility, and perhaps a pleasure, in calcula-
ting, seems to have sported with the ecale, an.d wantonly to have
tried confusions, by dissecting and torturing it in all possible ways;
and though one of his many systems suits our present practice, it
is not to be imagined that it was designedly calculated for the use
(Q Padre Martini, Storia Mvsica, quoted by the Abbe* Roussier, Mem. sur la Mus. des Anc. p. 162.
(m) In what manner this deviation became necessary, will be related in the second book of this
work, where the subject of Temperament will be more particularly explained.
(n) To justify this account, and to give the reader some idea of the licentiousness of these ancient
Tunings, or Temperaments, I shall only mention, that, instead of the two tones, and two semitones, to
which modern theory is confined, the ancients admitted four kinds of tones, and eleven semitones ;
and, of these fifteen different ratios, eleven are impracticable in Harmony, and rejected by theory,
and by the ear ; but, says M. Rousseau, c'est perdre son terns, & abuser de celui du lecteur, qusdeU
promener pour toutes ces divisions. Art. Syntonique.
(o) Indeed, it is probable, that among the ancients, as well as the moderns, many such untuneable
divisions, served more to amuse Theorists, than to guide practical Musicians.
357
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
of counterpoint, which was far from his thoughts (£). It seems,
however, as if Music in parts was first suggested by this arrange-
ment of the intervals; for the 3ds and 6ths, which were before
so hansh and crude as to be deservedly ranked among the discords,
were now softened and sweetened into that grateful coincidence
with which modern ears are so much delighted. It was impossible,
after hearing them, for lovers of music not to feel the charms arising
from the combination and succession of these consonances; and it
was from this time that the seeds of that harmony which may be
said, in a less mysterious sense than that of Pythagoras, to be
implanted in our nature, began to spring up. They were certainly
of slow growth, as no good fruit was produced from them for more
than 1,000 years after: but arts, like animals to whom great
longevity is allowed, have a long infancy and childhood, before
adolescence and maturity come on.
(p) That he -was not the only one, however, who broke the scale on the wheel, appears from a note
of M. Burette, upon a passage in Plutarch's Dialogue on Music ; for the divisions of the Tetxachord
upon the Flute, without the Enharmonic, in very high antiquity, were five :
1. The Jfctf Diatonic, consisting of a semitone, three quarters of a tone, and five fourths of
atone.
2. The sharp Diatonic, of which the three intervals were a limma, and two major tones.
3. The flat Chromatic, of one third of a tone ; another ditto : a tone and a half and a third
of a tone.
4. The sesquialteraU Chromatic, of a Diesis, or quarter tone and half ; ditto ; and seven
Dieses, or quarter tones.
5. The sharp Chromatic, of a semitone ; a semitone, and a tone and half.
It has been already remarked, p. 121, that the numbers and proportions of the ancients are
inadmissible in our counterpoint ; and I beg leave to ask the learned in Harmonics, as well as practical
Musicians, what pleasing effects could possibly be produced, even in Melody, from such strange
intervals as these?
358
Chapter VI
Of the Scolia, or Songs, of the ancient Qreefcs
VOCAL Mueic is of such high antiquity, that its origin seems
to have been coeval with mankind; at least, the lengthened
tones of pleasure and pain, of joy and affliction, must long
have preceded every other language, and Music. The voice of
passion wants but few articulations, and must have been nearly the
same in all human creatures; differing only in gravity or acuteness,
according to age, sex, and organization, till the invention of words,
by particular conventions, in different societies, weakened, and,
by degrees, rendered it unintelligible. This primitive and instinc-
tive language, or cry of nature, is still retained by animals, and
universally understood, while our artificial tongues are known only
to the small part of the globe, where, after being learned with great
pains, they are spoken* " We talk of love and of hatred," says
M. de Voltaire, " in general terms, without being able to express
the -different degrees of those passions. It is the same with respect
to pain and pleasure, of which there are such innumerable species.
The shades and gradations of volition, repugnance, or compulsion,
are equally indistinct for want of colours/' This censure should,
however, be confined to written language; for though a word can
be accurately expressed in writing, and pronounced but one way,
yet the different tones of voice that can be given to it, in the utter-
ance, are infinite. A mere negative or affirmative may even be
uttered in such a manner, as to convey ideas diametrically opposite
to the original import of the word.
Music, considered then as the language of the passions, is most
expressive when its movements are least impeded by difficult
articulations; and this accounts for the preference of one language to
another, for musical purposes; for the pleasure we receive from
instrumental 'Music, of the most exquisite kind; and from divisions
in airs that are well executed by the voice.
It has already been observed, that Songs preceded the use of
letters, and served not only for amusement, but supplied the place
of history in after-ages. Laws were originally sung, to be the
better retained in memory; and prayers offered up to the Gods
were chanted, in order to add to their solemnity and energy. The
first public use, therefore, of Music was the service of religion, and
the first private use, to alleviate labour and care, or to express
hilarity during social happiness.
359
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Theurgic Hymns, or Songs of Incantation, such as those ascribed
to Orpheus, which were performed in the mysteries upon the most
solemn occasions were the first and most ancient of which we have
any account in Greece; and these are supposed to have originated
in Egypt.
The second species consisted of poetical and popular Hymns,
that were sung at the head of an army, or in praise of some divinity,
during the public worship of the Gods in temples ; and these were
distinguished by particular appellations, according to the Deities
to whom they were addressed ; as Paeans to Apollo and Mars, and
Dithyrambics to Bacchus. Hymns, however, of this kind, in
process of time, were lavished upon heroes, kings, and generals.
There was still a third class, distinct from these, which may be
denominated philosophic, or allegorical Hymns, in which the
attributes of the supreme Being, as the apologists for Paganism
pretended, were celebrated under some fable or virtue personified.
Of all the different kinds of Scolia, or festive Songs that were in
use among the inhabitants of Greece, and that were distinct from
religious Hymns, those of which we have any remains, are chiefly
such as were sung at table, during the time of banquets, or repasts.
We are told, however, by Plutarch, Athenaeus, Lucian, and other
Greek writers, that in the first use of these, they were real Pceans,
sacred Canticles, or Hymns, sung by the whole' company to some
divinity (a). It afterwards was the custom for each of the guests
to sing one of these songs alone, holding a branch of myrtle in his
hand, which he passed about to his next neighbour, as we do the
bottle ; and this may be called the second manner of performing
these songs (&). The third was to the accompaniment of the Lyre,
and required professed Musicians, Singers, and Citharoedists ; for
Music was now arrived at a greater degree of perfection among
artists, who made it their chief employment, than gentlemen who
applied themselves to it, among other exercises in the general course
of education, only as an amusement (c).
As there were three several ways of performing these Scolia, the
subjects upon which they were composed may be likewise arranged
under three Classes. The first class consisted of moral Songs, of
which several are preserved by Athenaeus.
(a) The Gods were not then, says M. Rousseau, regarded as kill-joys, and shut out of convivial
meetings ; the Greeks were not afraid to let them, be of the party.
(&) In process of time, to Sing to the Myrtle, became a proverbial expression for ignorance ; as
those who had a hand employed in holding the branch, were unable to accompany themselves on the
Lyre, which required application and talents.
(c) Aristotle, Prob. TV. mentions Enharmonic Melodies being formerly preferred to all others, for
their ease and simplicity, when it was customary for gentlemen to perform in Dithyrambic Choruses ;
which Problem not only shews that there was a time when Music in Greece, from its simplicity, and
being made part of a liberal education, did not require professors who should make it their sole employ-
ment, and distinguish themselves by their execution of difficulties ; but likewise fortifies the opinion
advanced in the Dissertation relative to easy Enharmonic.
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
In the following Scolium, Timocreon gives his opinion of riches.
Vile riches should no favour find,
By land or sea, among mankind;
But should be sent with fiends to dwell,
Down in the deepest, blackest hell :
For 'tis from them, ere since the world began,
The greatest ills have sprung, which torture man.
\nd Plato, Athenaeus, and Lucian, have all quoted a Song upon
:he pre-eminence of worldly blessings, that is ascribed to Simonides :
The first of human gifts is health,
The next on beauty's pow'r attends;
The third, possessing well-earn' d wealth;
The fourth is youth, enjoy' d with friends.
Phocylides has given the same sentiment, in different words.
And Aristotle, having brought it from Delphos, has done it the
honour to place it at the head of his Moral Writings. Anaxandrides,
however, according to Athenaeus, was not so partial to it ; but, on
the contrary, disputed the sentiments it contained.
That health is the first of all blessings below,
Is a truth which no logic can fairly confute;
But the second on personal charms to bestow,
And on riches the third, I beg leave to dispute :
Next to health, give me riches] for beauty, though bright,
In hunger and rags is a villainous sight.
The second Class of Scolia, comprehends mythological hymns,
and historical songs. Of these I shall give the following, from
Athenaeus, as specimens merely of the sentiments which these kinds
of compositions contained ; for as to the Measure and Music, they
are now equally irrecoverable.
To the Divinities that preside over Riches and Abundance.
At the genial board I sing
Pleasures which from plenty spring:
While the wreath adorns our brows,
Ceres well deserves our vows.
Plutus too, thy name 111 join,
And thy sister Proserpine.
Ye our social joys augment,
From your bounty flows content.
Bless our city with increase,
And our song shall never cease.
361
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
On LATONA and her Offspring.
Latona once, on Delos* isle,
Gave to the world a matchless pair;
Apollo, who makes nature smile,
Whose shoulders glow with golden hair:
And Dian', goddess of the chace,
Whose shafts unerring ever fly,
Sole sovereign of the female race,
Nocturnal empress of the sky.
On PAN.
O Pan, delight of nymphs and swains,
Protector of Arcadian plains,
Who lead'st the frolic dance ;
The laughing fair, who play the prude,
But fly from thee to he pursu'd,
Their favours to enhance.
They love thy rustic oaten reed;
They know thy vigour, force, and speed,
AJnd feign a modest fear.
And jocund strains shall swell for thec,
And render, by their mirth and glee,
Thy name for ever dear.
Among the historic, or patriotic Songs, there are none more
frequently mentioned by ancient authors, than those upon
Hannodius and Aristogiton-> who signalized their courage against
Hipparchus and Hippias, the sons and successors of Pisistratus,
king of Athens. Hipparchus having publicly insulted the sistei
of Hannodius, he, in conjunction with his friend Aristogiton, sle\v
him at the Panathenaean Games, which event was the signal to the
natives of Athens for recovering their liberty. The following are
fragments of popular songs, in honour of Hannodius.
1st Fragment.
Cover'd with myrtle-wreaths I'll wear my sword,
Like brave Harmodius, and his patriot friend
Aristogiton, who the laws restored,
The tyrant slew, and bade oppression end.
2d Fragment.
Harmodius dear! thou art not dead,
Thy soul is to Elysium fled;
Thy virtue there a place has won,
With Diomede, great Tydeus' son;
With swift Achilles, too, thou art join'd,
And ev'ry friend of human kind*
362
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
Aristotle honoured his friend and kinsman, Hermias, prince of
Atarnea, with a Hymn, or Canticle, which is preserved in Athenaeus
(d), and in Diogenes Laertius (e), for which he is said to have been
arraigned at a court of justice, where he was accused of impiously
lavishing upon a mortal such honour and praise, as were due only
to the Gods.
ARISTOTLE'S Hymn to HERMIAS.
Virtue ! thou source of pure delight,
Whose rugged mien can ne'er affright
The man with courage fir'd;
For thee the sons of Greece have run
To certain ills, which others shun,
And gloriously expir'd.
When'er thy sacred seeds take root,
Immortal are the flow'rs and fruit,
Unfading are the leaves;
Dearer than smiles of parent kind,
Than balmy sleep, or gold refin'd,
The joys thy triumph gives.
For thee the Twins of mighty Jove,
For thee divine Alcides strove
From vice the world to free;
For thee Achilles quits the light,
And Ajax plunges into night,
Eternal night, for thee.
Hermias, the darling of mankind,
Shall leave a deathless name behind
For thee untimely slain;
As long as Jove's bright altars blaze,
His worth shall furnish grateful praise,
To all the Muse's train.
The offence given by Aristotle in this Poem, which his enemies
denominated a Paean, seems to have been the saying that the actions
of his friend would be sung by the Muses, as long as the worship
of Jupiter Hospitalis continued. Athenseus, however, did not
regard it as a true Paean, because the characteristic exclamation
lo Paan did not occur in any part of it.
The third and last Class of Scolia, concerning which I shall
speak, was upon common and miscellaneous subjects, peculiar to
no age or country. The greatest number, and the best of these,
were upon love and wine. Love inspires Music and Poetry ; this
(4) Lib. xv.
(«) InAnstot*
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
was a memorable maxim among the Greeks, and the subject ot
one of Plutarch's Symposiacs (/).
Scolia written by the greatest Poets of antiquity, are mentioned
by ancient authors; and Athemeus has preserved specimens and
fragments of a great number. It must, however, be owned, that
most of them appear now to be unmeaning and insipid. And
Athenseus either has not selected them with taste and judgment,
or it would encourage a belief that the genius of the Greeks could
not stoop to elegance in trifles. Indeed, with respect to Songs
upon the subjects of love and drinking, those of Anacreon have
been long regarded as standards of excellence. They are dis-
tinguished, by their native' elegance and grace, from every other
kind of poetical composition; and the voluptuous gaiety of all
his songs is so characteristic, that his style and manner have had
more imitators than Pindar. Anacreontics are expected to be as
joyous and sportive, as Pindarics daring and sublime. " His
smiling and flowery images," says M. de la Nauze (g), " are the
more certain to please, as they are all selected with taste and
discernment, and faithfully copied from nature." Much less can
be said, however, in behalf of the moral purity of his sentiments;
for it must be owned, that their licentiousness is the more dangerous
in proportion to the art and insinuating delicacy with which they
are cloathed.
Unfortunately, the miscellaneous and moral Scolia have the
least merit of all those that are preserved in Athenaeus. Indeed,
the simplicity of many of them will not bear an English dress,
unless it be very much laced and embroidered by the translator;
for so little of the ancient genius of Greece appears in them, that
nothing but a mixture of modern poetical images is likely to
procure them a perusal. The following Scolium, for instance,
when literally and fairly translated, can afford no pleasure to a
modem reader. " Son of Telamon, warlike Ajax! They say
you are the bravest of the Grecians who came to Troy, next to
Achilles (k)." — And this is called a Songl
(/) The reasons which he alleges in proof of this passion giving birth to Verse and Melody, suit
stai better -with Song, in which both are united, than with mere Music or Poetry.
"Love,** says he, " like wine, inspires vivacity, chearfulness and passion ; and in these dispositions
it is natural to sing, and to give energy and emphasis to our expressions. Besides," adds he, "when any
one is in love, he naturally uses a figurative and measured language, in order to enforce his: sentiments,
as gold is used in embellishing statues. Whenever a beloved object is mentioned, her perfections and
beauties are published in Songs, which impress them in the memory in a more lively and durable
manner. If we send our mistress either letters or presents, we try to augment their value, by a copy
of verses or a Song. In short, continues Plutarch, from Theophrastus, there are three incitements to
Song ; sorrow, joy, and enthusiasm. During sorrow, our complaints are expressed in lengthened tones
which resemble those of Music ; the voice too, of an orator, humbly bespeaking, in his peroration, the
favour of an audience, is modulated into a kind of Song ; as are the grief and lamentation of actors in
tragedy. Joy causes violent agitations, and stimulates the vulgar to skip and dance ; while persons
more decorous, and better educated, are inclined to sing. Enthusiasm agitates and transports to a
degree of madness and fury, witness the cries of the Bacchanals, and the agonies of the Pythia, both of
which are uttered in measure and cadence. Now there can be no doubt but that the passion of love
occasions exquisite pain, as well as pleasure. This passion, therefore, concludes the philosopher,
uniting all the three propensities of Song, must at all tunes have been regarded as the most proper to
excite a desire of singing."
(g) Dissert, sur les Chansons de VAndenne. Greet. Mem. de Litt, torn. x.
(h) Hot TeXofMM/os Atav aix/unjra, Xeyowi <r es Tpotav apurov eXfletv Aavawr JUL«T' AgiXXea,
TOV TcAa/iwa irpurov, A«u»m fie fievrepov es Tpoiax/ Xeyowrw/ «X0«ti> Awaw;> per a
364
HISTORY OF GREEK MUSIC
Nor is either the poetry or morality very exalted of this:
" He who does not betray his friend, has great honour both with
Gods and men — in my opinion (i)."
To pursue this subject through all the different classes of
Poetry, that might be comprehended under the word Scolia,
belongs more immediately to a history of Poetry, than of Music;
especially as the Melodies to which they used to be sung have
been so long intirely and irritrievably lost, that nothing seems left
to say concerning them, that can afford musical enquirers the
least satisfaction.
(»),O0-is avSpa-^iXo/ juw] TrpoStSwaiv, fteyaX^v e^" «,<utx' e re BpoTOis, «vre,0«wow, K.O.T epov
vwv. ......,_.
•365
THE
HISTORY OF THE
MUSIC OF THE ROMANS
IN describing the Music and musical instruments of the Greeks,
those of the Romans have been included; yet, in order to pre-
serve a kind of historical chain, and to connect distant times
together, it is as necessary to give a chapter to Roman Music, as,
in visiting distant regions, it is, sometimes, to pass through large
tracts of desert country, in order to arrive at places better worth
examining. But though the Romans were obliged to the Greeks
for most of their arts, sciences, and refinements; yet, as there is
no country so savage, where men associate together, as to be wholly
without Music, it appears that the Romans had hi very high
antiquity a rude and coarse Music of their own, and had imitated the
Etruscan Musical Establishments, both in their army and temples.
Dionysius Halicarnassensis (a), speaking of the antiquity of the
Pelasgians, the inhabitants of Falerii and Fescennia, two ancient
cities of Etraria, built in the Greek form, says, " the manner of
their religious ceremonies was the same as those of Argos. Holy
women served in the Temple, and a girl unmarried, called Cane-
phoros, or basket-bearer, began the sacrifice, besides Choruses of
virgins, who hymned the Goddess in songs of their country." Now
as the Romans had an earlier communication with the Etruscans
than with the Greeks, this passage renders it very probable that
they were obliged to the people of Etruria for their religious
ceremonies, and for vocal Music (b). And the same author informs
us, that cc the Arcadians were the first who brought into Italy the
use of Greek letters (c), and instrumental Music, petfomea^on the
(a) l&.L
(6) Strabo, de bdlo Punico, says in express terms, that the public music, especially such as was
used in sacrifices, came from Etruria to the Romans. See also livy, lib. xxxix.
(e) The late Mr. Spehnan, whose translation is used here, was of opinion, as many others have been,
among whom is Quintilian, that the Roman language was originally Greek, And as the Arcadians
were one of the first Greek colonies that settled in Italy, the ^Eolic dialect must have been brought
thither by them. Mr. Spelman in proof of this opinion compares the following words of the Latin
language with its mother Greek : Fama, fata ; £fcga, irXa-ya ; mackina, paytva ; malum, jaaXoi/ ; mater,
fuxrcp : to, TV. And yet, though many more instances are to be found of Greek words incorporated
in the Latin language, they no more prove it to have been originally Greek man those to be
found, in perhaps greater number, in the English language, will give to our tongue so honourable an
origin. The Romans had an intercourse with Greece, and an acquaintance with the literature of the
Greeks, long before the time of Dionysus, and in adopting their arts they could not help adopting the
language in which they received them from the cragmal inventors.
366
HISTORY OF THE MUSIC OF THE ROMANS
Lyre, and those instruments called the Trigon and the Lydian (d);
for the shepherd's pipe was the only instrument in use before that
time. They are said, also, to have instituted laws; to have brought
mankind over from the savageness which then generally prevailed,
to a eense of humanity; and likewise, to have introduced arts and
sciences, and many other things conducive to the public good. — This
was the second Greek nation, that (^aejnto_lt^[y after the Pelasgi;
and living in common with the AbOTgmesT^xedTiieir habitation
in the best parts of Italy («)."
Dionysius likewise says (/), many old authors asserted that
Romulus and Remus, after they were weaned, were sent by those
who had the charge of their education to Gabii, a town not far
from Palatium, to be instructed in Greek learning; and that there
they were brought up by some persons with whom Faustulus the
shepherd had a private intercourse of hospitality, where they
employed their time, till they arrived at manhood, in literature,
Music, and the use of Greek arms.
Plutarch (g) mentions it as a prevailing opinion, that the Greek
language which was spoken by the Romans in the time of Romulus,
was not corrupted by Italian words. From these accounts it
appears that the Romans had not only vocal and instrumental
music as well as other arts and sciences from Greece, but even
their alphabet, language, religion, and all the learning of which
they were possessed during the time of their kings, and the first
ages of their republic, these having been originally Greek, though
the Romans had them through Etruscan strainers.
The first Roman triumph, according to Dionysius (h), was that
of Romulus over the Cseoinenses; in which, clad in a purple robe,
he was drawn in a chariot by four horses. The rest of the army
both horse and foot followed, ranged in three several divisions,
Hymning their gods in songs of their country, and celebrating their
general with extemporary Verses: this account aifoids a very
venerable origin to the Improvvisatori of Italy; as the event
happened in the fourth year of Rome, 749 years before Christ, and
fourth year of the seventh Olympiad.
The same author says that the Roman praetors, in worshipping
the Idsean goddess, performed annual sacrifices and celebrated
annual games in her honour, according to the Roman, not Grecian,
customs: though the priest and priestess of the goddess were
Phrygians. These carried her image in procession about the city,
asking alms in her name, according to their custom, and wearing
figures upon their breast, and striking their Cymbals, while their
followers played Tunes upon their Flutes, in honour of the mother
of the gods.
(d) This was probably an instrument for which the Greeks were indebted to their Asiatic neigh
boors, the Lydians.
(f) LXonysius HdKc. Antiq. Rom. lib. i. (/) Ibid.
(g) Vita Romuli. (*)!«&. ii.
367
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
These are the chief instances to be found in ancient history
of original Roman Music; or at least of music that was not imme-
diately derived from Greece. M. Rousseau, speaking of the Scolia,
or Grecian Songs, says, ' These kind of songs passed from the Greeks
to the Romans, and many of the odes of Horace are Bacchanalian
and love songs. But this nation, more military than sensual, for
a long while made but a very coarse use of Music and songs, and
never approached in these particulars the voluptuous grace and
elegance of the Greeks (f). It seems as if Melody always remained
in a coarse and rude state among the Romans. Their Hymenseal
odes were rather noise and clamour than songs, and it is hardly
to be presumed that the satirical songs of the soldiers, in the
triumphs of their generals, consisted of a very agreeable
melody (ft)." I shall, however, endeavour to trace the progress of
Music among the Romans, by collecting the chief passages to be
found in their best historians relative to the subject.
Numa* began his reign in the middle of the sixteenth Olympiad,
715 B.C., about the time when Pythagoras was in Italy. And,
according to Dionysius, the sixth branch of his religious institutions
was the establishment of the Salii, whom Numa himself appointed
out of the patricians, chusing twelve young men of the most
graceful appearance. These Salii were a find of dancers and
singers of hymns in praise of the god of war. The festivals were
celebrated about the time of the Panathenaea at Athens, in the
month of March, and at the public expence ; they continued several
days, during which they proceeded dancing through the city to
the Forum, and the Capitol, and to many other public and private
places, beating time upon the Ancilia, or sacred shields (Z). The
Romans called them Salii from their violent motions. And for
the same reason, they called all other dancers Saltatores, because
their dancing, also, was attended with frequent springing and
leaping, in imitation of the Salii (m):*~* " In the evolutions which
they perform in arms, keeping time to a Flute," says Dionysius,
" sometimes they move altogether, sometimes by turns ; and in
dancing, sing certain Hymns, after the manner of their country (n).
They seem to be the same as the Greek Curetes."
Servius Tullius, who began his reign 578 B.C. in forming the
people into classes and centuries, is related by the Roman historians
(t) It has been shewn, however, in the preceding chapter, that though the Greeks had many
elegant Lyric Poets, and numbered Sappho and Anaceron among the writers of songs upon the subjects
of love and wine, yet some of their vulgar and popular Scolia seem to have been furnished with as
little Poetry, grace, and refinement, as the Roman military Paeans.
(k) Did. de Mus. art. CHANSON.
(Z) This performance must very much have resembled that of modern morice or morisque dancers.
(ra) The modem Italians are still fond oiSaltatori, and employ them in their Operas.
(n) This account affords no very splendid idea of the Roman dancing, any more than it does of
their Music. Singing and dancing together during such violent exertions of activity and agility, must
have iafeebled both.
* The legendary second King of Rome. According to Livy he reigned 43 years, but Polybius
and Cicero only allow 39 years.
** Hence the lator Italian dance, the " Saltareflo."
368
HISTORY OF THE MUSIC OF THE ROMANS
to have ordained that two whole centuries should consist of
Trumpeters, blowers of the horn, &c. and of such as, without any
other instruments, sounded the charge (o). This shews the
number, and the importance of military Musicians in the Roman
state near 600 years before Christ.
And in the laws of the Twelve Tables, instituted about the
time that the poWSf^F~the" Decemvirs was abolished, 450 B.C.
among those concerning religious rites, we find the two following:
I. Let the cryer proclaim the funeral. Let the master of the
funeral, in the games, make use of a public officer, and lictors.
Let it be lawful for him to make use of three square mantles in the
funeral, a purple fillet for the head, and ten players on the Flute.
Let him do no more than this (p).
XII. Let the praises of honoured men be displayed in an
assembly of the people ; and let mournful Songs, accompanied with
a Flute, attend those praises (q).
According to Servius, Macrobius, and Horace, Nuptial Songs,
which were afterwards refined and polished into Epithalamiums,
were first used by the people of Fescennia, a city of Etruria, and
therefore called Versus Fescennini. This kind of Poetry, in its
original, was gross and obscene, though long authorized by custom.
Young people, instead of throwing the stocking, in the manner of
our villages, sung the Fescennina before the apartment of the new
married pair.
Livy (r) gives a kind of history of the Roman Drama, which,
as well as the Grecian, was inseparable from Music. The passage
is so full and curious, that I shall insert it entire.
" The plague continued to rage this year (s), and the following,
during the consulate of C. Sulpicius Peticus, and C. Licinnius Stolo.
The most remarkable occurrence during this period was, that, in
order to obtain mercy of the Gods, a public feast called
Lectisternium was celebrated for them, which was the third
entertainment of this kind that had been made since the building
of the city (t). But the magistrates finding that the violence of the
(oj Dionys. Halic. from Fabrus, and Livy, Lib.L, cap. 43.
(P) I. PRAECO- FONUS- ENDEICITQ- DOMINOS- FONERIS- EN- LVDEIS' ACENSO*
LICTOREBOSQVE- OETITOR- EN- DO- FONERE TRIBOS- RICINEIS- RICA- PORPOREA-
DECEMQVE- TIBICINIBOS- OETIER- LICETO- HOC- PLWS- NEI: FACITO- Transcribed from
Fulvius Ursinus, as they were originally "written.
I. Fresco fumts indicito. Dominus funeris in ludis accenso licioribusque utitor. Injunere tribus,
riciniis, ricd purpured, decemque Tibicinibus uti licito. Hoc plus ne facito.
(a) XII HONORATOROM- VIROROM- LAVDES- EN- DO- CONTIQNE. MEMORANTOR*
BASQUE- NAENIAE- AD- TIBICINEM* PROSEQWNTOR.
XII. Honoratontm viromm laudes in condone memorantor ; casque nani& ad Tibicinem prose"
quuntor.
(r) Lib. vii. cap. 2. (s) 364 B.C.
(t) The word Lectisternium is derived from sUmere, to spread or make, and kctus, a bed. The
statues of the Gods were taken down from their niches, and laid on beds, placed about a table, and
covered with magnificent carpets, purple cushions, and hangings of tapestry. Duumviri, Triumviri,
and in process of time, Septemviri, named Epulones, presided at these feasts, and eat the meat that was
served up before the statues. Yet not by stealth, in the sneaking manner that was practised at
In the first of the three beds lay Apollo, Diana, and Latona ; in' the second, Hercules and Mercury,
and in the third, Neptune.
VOI,. i. 24 *6$
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
pestilence was neither abated by human prudence, nor Divine
assistance, and having their minds filled with superstition, among
other means which were tried in order to appease the incensed
Deities, are said to have instituted the games called Scenici (u)f
which were amusements entirely new to a warlike people, who,
before this time, had none but that of the Circus. These theatrical
representations, like the beginnings of most other things, were at
first inconsiderable, and borrowed from foreigners : for actors were
sent for from Etruria, who, without verses, or any action expressive
of verses, danced, not ungracefully, after the Tuscan manner, to the
Flute. In process of time the Roman youth began to imitate these
dancers, intermixing raillery in unpolished verses, their gestures
corresponding with the sense of the words. Thus were these plays
received at Rome, and being improved and refined by frequent
performances, the Roman actors acquired the name of Histriones,
from the Tuscan word Hister, which signifies a stage player. But
their dialogue did not consist of unpremeditated, and coarse jests,
in such rude verses as were used by the Fescennini, but of satires,
accompanied with Music, set to the Flute, and recited with suitable
gestures (x). And some years after, Livius Andronicus first
ventured "to abandon satires, and write plays with a regular and
connected plot (y). After satires, which had afforded the people
subject of coarse mirth and laughter, were, by this regulation,
reduced to form, and acting, by degrees, became an art, the Roman
youth left it to players by profession, and began, as formerly, to
act farces at the end of their regular pieces. These dramas were
soon after called Exodia, and were generally interwoven with the
Atellane comedies (z). These were borrowed from the Osci (a), and
always acted by the Roman youth, who would not allow them to
be disgraced by professed actors. Hence it has been a rule for
those who performed in such pieces not to be degraded from their
tribe, and they were allowed to serve in the army as if they never
had appeared on the stage."
The circumstance of these plays having been first represented on
account of the plague, proves theatrical exhibitions to have been
originally religious institutions, among the Romans, as well as the
ancient Greeks ; and the importance of Music in religious cere-
monies is put out of all doubt by another curious passage in
(u) These scenic shews took their name from the Greek word <TKt\v*it which signifies a shady
place, or arbor, made with branches, or boughs of trees, with which the ancients covered their stages.
Afterwards, the scene of the theatre of the ancients implied all those buildings which were represented
to the spectators on the stage, when it was adorned with such decorations as Vitnivius calls scenes.
(x) These Satunz or Satire* were a kind of wild, miscellaneous drama, without regular plot, or
subject. The reader may see the word well explained in an elegant note of Mr. Harris's Philosophical
Arrangements, p. 460.
(?) See Dissert, p. 144.
(*) Atettet, according to Quver, was situated near Aversa, in Campania, between Capua and
Naples.
(a) The original inhabitants of Campania. They were antiently called Opisci, and, by contrac-
tion, Obsci ; whence, say the Etymologists, the word Obscatnus came, as these people had the character
of being as Ikentkras in their discourses, as they were loose in their manners. Tacitus tells us that
some pieces called AteUana, written in the spirit and language of the old Osci, were acted in his time.
370
HISTORY OF THE MUSIC OF THE ROMANS
Livy (6), where he has recorded the effects of resentment in the
Roman Musicians, who used to perform at sacrifices, and who, upon
an imaginary affront, left the city in body. The relation of the
historian seems to merit a place here without abridgment.
" I should omit a circumstance, hardly worth mentioning, if
it did not seem connected with religion. The Tibicines, or Flute-
players, taking offence at the preceding censors refusing them the
privilege of eating in the Temple of Jupiter, according to tradi-
tional custom, withdrew in a body to Tibur (c), so that there were
no performers left to play before the sacrifices. This created
religious scruples in the minds of the senators, and ambassadors
were sent to Tibur to endeavour to persuade the fugitives to return
to Rome. The Tiburtines readily promised to use their
utmost endeavours to this end, and first summoning them before
their senate, exhorted them to return to Rome; but finding them
deaf to reason or intreaty, they had recourse to an artifice well
suited to the dispositions of these men. For upon a certain
festival, they were all invited by different persons, under pretence
of their assisting in the celebration of a feast. As men of this
profession are generally much addicted to wine, they were supplied
with it, till being quite intoxicated, they fell fast asleep, and in
this condition were flung into carts, and carried to Rome; where
they passed the remaining part of the night in the Forum, without
perceiving what had happened (d). The next day, while they were
full of the fumes of their late debauch, upon opening their eyes
they were accosted by the Roman people, who flocked about them,
and having been prevailed upon to stay in their native city, they
were allowed the privilege of strolling through all the streets in their
robes (e), three days in every year, playing upon their instruments,
and indulging themselves in those licentious excesses which are
practised upon the same occasion to this day (/). The privilege
of eating in the temple was also restored to such of them as should
be employed in playing before the sacrifices." This adventure
(6) Lib. ix. cap. 30.
(c) TivoU.
(d) The Tibicines were frequently celebrated by ancient "writers, not only for their love ot good
cheer, but for their corpulency. Virgil, Georg. ii. 193. says :
Inflamt cum Pinguis ebur Tyrrhenus ad Aras.
When the fat Tuscan's horn has call'd the God.
This, according to the commentators, and old scholiasts, was owing to the good dinners they
obtained at sacrifices. And as the Greeks had a proverb, see p. 338, relative to persons of this pro-
fession living at the cost of others, so, to run about like a Flute-flayer^ was a proverbial expression,
among the Romans : Transire Tibicinis Latini modo — says Cic. pro Murana : from their attendance
at different sacrifices on Festivals.
(e} These Musicians had a long gown peculiar to their profession ; Horace speaks of their trailing
it along the stage (Art. Poet.) and this is what Ovid means by the stolalonga.
(/) Livy was cotemporary with Augustus. Ovid, Fasti, lib. vi. relates the same story, and tefls
us further, that the Tibicines celebrated the anniversary of their return to Rome on the xsih of June ;
at which time they disguised themselves in women's apparel, and marched through the streets in
procession to the Temple of Minerva, inventress of the Flute, and protectress of such as played upon
it, singing jovial Songs. Et canere ad veteres verba jocosa modos. See, likewise, Plutarch's Roman
Problems,
371
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
happened 309 years B.C. while the Romans were preparing for
two very dangerous wars (g).
But notwithstanding the importance of these Flute-players to
the celebration of religious rites, Music seems to have arrived at
no very great degree of refinement or perfection, or to have been
much in use on other occasions, till after the conquest of Antiochus
the Great, King of Syria; and it is mentioned by Livy (h), as a
memorable sera of luxury, that the custom was then first introduced
at Rome of having Psaltria, or female Musicians to attend and
perform at feasts and banquets in the Asiatic manner (t).
Indeed the Romans were later in cultivating Arts and Sciences,
than any other great and powerful people; and none of them
seem to have been the natural growth of the soil, except the art of
war; all the rest were brought in by conquest. For it has been
shewn already, that before their acquaintance with the Greeks
they had all their refinements from the Etruscans, a people very
early civilized and polished. Cicero, in his second Book of Laws,
tells us, that before Greece and her arts were well known to the
Romans, it was a custom for them to send their sons for instruction
into Etruria. And thence they had the first ideas, not only of
Religion, but of Poetry, Painting, Sculpture, and Music, according
to the confession even of their own historians.
With respect to Etruscan Music, whoever regards the great
number of Instruments represented in the fine collection of
antiquities published under the patronage of Sir William Hamilton,
as well as in that published at Rome since, by Passerio, must be
convinced that the ancient inhabitants of Etruria were extremely
attached to Music; for every species of Musical instrument that
is to be found in the remains of ancient Greek sculpture is
delineated on the vases of these collections; though the antiquity
of some of them is imagined to be much higher than the general
use of the instruments represented upon them was, even in Greece.
Yet, with all the advantages of vicinity to Etruria, and inter-
course with its inhabitants, it is well known how ignorant the
Romans were of Painting, Sculpture, and all the fine arts, long
after they were arrived at the highest perfection in Greece. For
when Mummius had put Rome in possession of some of the finest
productions of art which had rendered Greece so famous, after
laying waste a great part of that country, and, like a true barbarian,
(g) The Roman. Flute-players were incorporated and formed into a College, or Company, and had,
it may be imagined, their Common-halls, or meetings, their bye-laws and privileges. Val. Max. lib. ii.
cap, 5. and Phil in Nwnct, both speak of the College of Pipers. Ovid likewise has expressed their
importance, and different provinces in the Temple, the Theatre, and at Funerals, in the following lines :
Temporibus vderum Tibicinis nsus avorum
Magnus, et in magno semper honore fuit.
Cantabat f anis, cantabat tibia ludis,
Cantabat mcestis tibia funeribus.
Fast. Lib. vL
(ft) Lib. xrxix. cap. 6.
(i) PsaUria was a general appellation for a girl that sung and played upon some stringed-instru-
ment : a Minstrel. And the luxury of which Livy complains, was the addition of this entertainment
to feasts. Addita &puli$. See p. 340.
372
HISTORY OF THE MUSIC OF THE ROMANS
wantonly burning Corinth, the capital of Achaia, though he
sntered it without resistance, this rude conqueror, according to
Pliny, being offered by King Attalus 600,000 sesterces, a sum
equal to 4843 1. 15s. for a picture of Baccnus painted by Aristides,
had so little of the connoisseur about him, that imagining the
picture must contain some secret virtue, by the price that was set
on it, he would not part with it, but sent it to Rome among
other spoils: exposing, however, his own ignorance in these
matters by telling the commander of the ship, that he had best
take care of this piece, for if it was either lost or spoiled, he would
oblige him to furnish such another.
Besides the obligations which the Romans had to the Etruscans
and Greeks for their taste and knowledge in the fine arts, the
conquest of Sicily 200 years B.C., contributed greatly to their
acquaintance with them. Indeed there was no state of Greece
which produced men of more eminence in all the Arts and Sciences
than Sicily, which was a part of Magna Gr&cia, and which having
been peopled 719 years B.C. by a colony of Greeks from Corinth,
their descendents long after cherished and cultivated Science of all
kinds, in which they greatly distinguished themselves, even under
all the tyranny of government with which they were oppressed.
Fabricius (k) gives a list of seventy Sicilians who have been celebrated
in antiquity for learning and genius, among whom we find
the well known names of ^Eschylus, Diodorus Siculus, Empedocles,
Gorgias, Euclid, Archimedes, Epichannus, and Theocritus. To
the Sicilians is given not only the invention of Pastoral Poetry,
but of the Wind Instruments with which the shepherds and cowherds
used to accompany their rural Songs.
After the conquest of Greece, the Romans had the taste to
admire and adopt the Grecian arts. And the president Montesquieu
remarks, with respect to the military art, that one of the chief
causes of the Roman grandeur, was their method of abandoning
their ancient customs, and adopting those of the people whom they
had vanquished, whenever they found them superior to their
own (I).
In the time of Cicero, though the chief part of Greece was
subdued by the Romans, and rendered tributary to them, yet the
Greeks preserved a kind of sovereignty over the minds of their
masters; and the first personage among the Romans, even men of
consular dignity, whose power was so unbounded in the several
provinces under their command, chearfully submitted to go to
school at Athens, and to become disciples of Greek tutors, in
philosophy, mathematics, and the polite arts.
During the reign of Augustus, except Vitruvius, it does not
appear that the Romans had one Architect, Sculptor, Painter, or
(k) Bib. Grose. Vol. xiv. p. 27.
(I) On doit remarqucr que ceguiale plus contribut d rend/re les Romains les maitres du mattdf, c'tst,
ctfayant combattu successivement contre tous lespeupUs, Us ont toujours renonct d leurs usages sitfo qu'&s
M ont trouve de meitteurs. Grand, et Decad. des Romains, chap, i.
373
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Musician: those who have been celebrated in the arts at Rome,
having been Asiatics, or European Greeks, who came to exercise
such arts among the Latins, as the Latins had not among them-
selves: this custom was continued under the successors of Augustus,
and those Romans who were prevented by more important concerns
from going into Greece, contrived in a manner to bring Greece to
Rome, by receiving into their service the most able professors
of Greece and Asia, in all the arts. We find too, not only
that each of the best Roman writers was an imitator of some great
Grecian model, but are certain that the finest remains in painting,
sculpture, and architecture, which still subsist in Italy, were either
brought thither from Greece, or were the works of Greek artists,
who had left their own ruined and oppressed country, to bask in
the warm sunshine of power and affluence, at Rome.
It cannot be dissembled, or passed over in silence here, that
arts and sciences have been frequently charged with contributing
to precipitate both the Roman and Grecian states into ruin, by
rendering the minds of the people effeminate, involving the Great
in idle and useless expence and luxury, and by calling off their
attention from military and political concerns, which alone can
acquire and preserve dominion. In the infancy of a state, or in
times of danger and calamity, this may be true: but that man
was designed for no other purposes than to enslave or destroy his
fellow-creatures, or to live a gloomy life of inanity and penance,
never composed a part of iny creed. A nation become affluent by
conquest and commerce, must have amusements in time of peace.
The question is, whether these amusements shall be merely
corporeal and sensual, or whether elegance, refinement, and mental
pleasure, shall bear a part in them (nfy? Another question may
still be asked: whether any efforts of Greek and Roman genius are
still so much admired and imitated, as those which are seen in the
remains of their works in literature and the polite arts?
It is difficult to acquire wealth by fair means, but it is much
more difficult to use it rationally. And, in our own country, and
times, there are at least ten men who have talents of accumulation
sufficient to amass great riches, to one who distributes them among
his fellow-citizens, with benevolence, taste, and judgment.
Permanence is not allowed to human institutions: and the
longevity of a state has its bounds, as well as the life of man. It
is more consonant with our duty to endeavour, than with experience
to expect, to keep all corruption and depravity from our own. The
Spartan virtue, and self-,denial, could not preclude them.
(») V Amusement estundes besoins de I'homme, says M. de Voltaire. The first consideration
with a legislator is, that this amusement should be innocent ; the next, that it be not below the dignity
of a rational creature. The more rigid moralist Plato, de Legib. says, that the Gods allowed festivals
to be instituted to their honour, at which the Muses, with Apollo their leader, and Bacchus were to
preside ; these were intended as relaxations to mankind, who otherwise would sink under the pressure
of toil and sorrow, to which they are subjected by nature, ©eot Se otxretporres TO rtov avOpunruv
«ri7rovop tre$v/eo9 ycvos, owuravXas r« avrots raw irovw CTO&UTO ra? TW copra? aftocBa? rot?
foots* Kat Mowa?, AiroXXiwa T* Movonrnnp', KILL Atowcrop, fweoprouras e&xrav. Plato de Legib.
lib. iL voL iL p. 653, Ed. SerranL
374
HISTORY OF THE MUSIC OF THE ROMANS
The cultivation of Arts and Sciences in a great and flourishing
kingdom is expected by its neighbours, and a debt to posterity.
It was long the fate of our own country, like that of the ancient
Romans, to admire the polite arts more than to cultivate them.
We imported the productions of foreign painters, sculptors, and
musicians, at an enormous expence, without conceiving it possible
to raise a school for the advancement of those arts at home. With
respect to the two first, all Europe now allows that genius, diligence,
and travel, under the auspices of royal protection and public
patronage, have macfe wonderful strides within the last twenty
years towards perfection, and forming a school in our own country;
but, as for Music, we have little that we can call our own; and
though more money is expended upon this favourite art in England,
than in any other kingdom upon the globe; yet, having no school
either for the cultivation of Counterpoint or Singing, we acquire by
those arts neither honour from our neighbours, nor profit to our
natives. Both take wing together ! and without a scarcity of genius
for contributing to the pleasures of the ear, we purchase them with
as little necessity as we should corn at a dear and foreign market,
while our own lands lay fallow.
With respect to the musical instruments used by the Romans,
as they invented none themselves, all that are mentioned by their
writers, can be traced from the Etruscans and Greeks. Indeed the
Romans had few authors who wrote professedly upon the subject
of Music, except St. Augustine, Martianus Capella, Boefhius, and
Cassiodorus; who, though they lived in the decline of the empire,
yet made use of Greek principles, and explained those principles
by Greek musical terms (n).
Vitruvius, in his Treatise upon Architecture, has inserted a chap-
ter upon Music, in which he has given the Harmonical system of
Aristoxenus; but he introduces it with a" complaint of the unavoid-
able obscurity of musical literature, on account of the deficiency of
(n) St. Augustine was born in Africa, A.C. 354, and died 430- Besides the six books written by
Mm upon Music, which are printed in the foL edition of his works at Lyons, 1586, there is a MS. tract
of his writing in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, entitled De Musica ; but it is nothing more than a
sermon in praise of Church Music, nor do his six books contain any other rules than those of Metre
and Rhythm.
Martian-us Capetta, who flourished In 470, was likewise an African. He, as well as St. Austin,
wrote upon the Seven liberal Arts. His ninth Book, the only one which concerns Music, has been
commented by Meibomius, at the end of the third Book of Aristides Qmntilfanus, from whom it is
almost wholly taken, blunders and corruptions excepted. Yet, however deficient Martianus Capella
may appear in the eyes of musical enquirers, Hugo Grotius, at the age of sixteen, chose the book of this
author as an exercise for his critical talents, and published it with a dedication to the prince of Conde,
at Leyden, 1599-
Boetkius was born at Rome, in 470, and put to death by order of Theodoric, the Goth, in 525. He
wrote five books on Music, which were first printed in black letter, with his Treatises on Arithmetic
and Geometry, at Venice, 1499. ! am greatly obliged to the unsolicited kindness and liberal communi-
cation of Dr. Jos. Warton, for a long possession of this rare edition, as well as for a very scarce Treatise
by Franchinus Gaforius, of equal antiquity. It is remarkable, that in this copy, the Greek of the famous
Senatus-Consultum, against Timotheus, at Lacedamon is omitted ; though I found it in a beautiful
MS. of Boethius, De Musica, 15 B. ix. of the nth century, in the British Museum, where the word
Ivapjumw occurs*, in the same manner as it is printed in the Oxford edition of Aratus. See Dissert.
p, 57 and 325.
Cassiodorus flourished in the time of Theodoric, in the 6th century, and died in 562, at the age of
03. ' He wrote of the Seven liberal Arts, De septem Disciplinis. The whole of his musical work, which
is hardly the skeleton of a treatise, is a repetition of what his predecessors have said on the subject,
and all these Latin Musical Tracts are but bullets of the same calibre. They teach no part of Music but
the alphabet, nor can any tf»fag be acquired by the most intense study of them, except despair and the
head-ach.
375
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
terms in the Latin tongue, to explain his ideas. " The science of
Music, in itself obscure," says he, " is particularly so to such as
understand not the Greek language (o)." This writer, therefore,
who seems to have been the first that had treated of music in the
Roman language, confesses the necessity he was under of using
Greek appellatives, not only for the notes, but for other parts of
the art: which shews, if not the low state of Music at Rome when
he wrote, which was in the Augustan age, at least whence their
Music came; and borrowing implies inferiority. Indeed, the writings
of Cicero shew that philosophy, and all the arts and sciences, were
wholly furnished to the Romans from Greece, even in the most
enlightened times.
Music was, however, in great favour at Rome, during the latter
end of the republic, and the voluptuous times of the emperors;
the stage then flourished; the temples were crowded; festivals
frequent; and banquets splendid; so that we may suppose it to have
been very much used both upon public and private occasions, in
so rich, populous, and flourishing a city as Rome, the mistress of
the world. But this Music must have differed as little from that
of the Greeks, as the descriptions of it in Horace and Virgil differ
from those to be found in Homer, and the Greek Lyric Poets.
Livy mentions (p) a hymn composed by P. Licinius Tegula,
in the 552d year from the building of the city, on occasion of some
prodigies which, from a supposition that the Gods were angry,
had greatly alarmed the citizens : such as the birth of an Herma-
phrodite; a lamb with the head of a Hog; and a colt with five legs.
This hymn was sung by twenty-seven Virgins in procession through
the streets of Rome. The Carmen Seculare of Horace, more especi-
ally his Dianam tenera, are very curious Relics of Vocal poetry; of
verses written for Music; and as the form and measures of his Odes
are Greek, the Music may fairly be supposed to have been hi the
Greek style (q). Catullus's hymn to Diana is another remain of the
same kind (r).
As all shows and public spectacles in Rome were calculated to
amuse and flatter the vulgar, who were extremely delighted with
these exhibitions, refinement and good taste in the arts that were
exercised in them, must have been kept in great subjection. Horace
frequently complains of the noise and indecorum of the clowns and
mechanics who were admitted into the theatre, and whose chief
delight was in the glare and splendor of the decorations ; the
magnificence of the dresses ; and such Music as was suited to their
(o) Lib. v. cap. 4. (P) Lib. xxxi. cap. 12.
(q) The Carmen Seculars was performed a due Cori, by twenty-seven, noble youths, and as many
Virgins. Tpts ewea iraiSes em^aveis, -/uwra wa.p6sv<*v rotfouruy, v/u/ov? afiowi rji re EXXwvaw
/cat •P»|*a«i>v $wvn, KM watavas. Zosimus, Hist ii. p. 74, Ed. Ozon. 1679. The Sibylline
verses, which this Author quotes, in p. 77, order the two Choruses to be separated.
— X«pts $« Kopott X0,00*' awrot
Kot
(r) Diana sitnnts in fide
, a pueri integri. — Carm. xxxiv.
376
HISTORY OF THE MUSIC OF THE ROMANS
rude ears and ignorance (s). The common people, says Ovid, sung
the airs of the theatre when they were at work in the fields (t).
A passage in Cicero (u) would incline us to imagine that the
laws of contrast, of light and shade, of loud and soft, of swelling
and diminishing sounds, were understood by the Musicians of his
time, as well as by those of the present. For, after speaking of
the use of contrast in oratory, poetry, and theatrical declamation,
he adds: " even Musicians, who have composed Melody, have
known its power; as is manifest from the care they take to lessen
the sound of instruments, in order to augment it afterwards: to
diminish, to swell, to vary, and to diversify (#)."
This orator frequently mentions, in his familiar Letters,
Philosophical works, and even Orations, the keeping a band of
Musicians as a general practice among persons of rank: these
were called Servi Symphoniaci, and Pueri Symphoniaci. In his
Oration In Q. C&cilmm, Quaestor to Verres, speaking of the
extortions and abuses of Verres and his Quaestor, he mentions
Csecilius protecting the admiral of Anthony, who had by violence
taken from a Sicilian Lady, named Agonis, her servos
symphoniacos, in order to make use of them on board his fleet (y).
The shepherds oaten pipe, among the Romans, seems to have
been sometimes made use of in their public assemblies to express
disapprobation ; it was certainly louder and more powerful than
hissing could be, and gave a harsh, jarring, ungrateful noise.
Stridenti misemm stipuld dispendere Carmen.
Cicero calls it Fistula Pastoricia, which might be englished, A
Roman Catcall.
The passage is in one of his Letters to Atticus, where acquaint-
ing him, with the satisfaction it gave the citizens, to observe the
close connexion and friendship between himself and Pompey,
which they considered as a powerful defence against the desperate
designs of the Clodian Faction, he tells them, " whenever they
appeared together in public, they were received with universal
acclamations, sine ulld pastoricia Fistula ; which so amazed the
young, rash associates of Clodius's conspiracy, that over their
cups they used, in contempt, to call Pompey Cnceus Cicero (z)."
(s) Indoctos quid enim saperet, liberque laborum,
Rusticus urbano canfusus, turpis Jtonesto.
(t) Ittic et cantant quidquid didicere Theatris. Fast. lib. iii.
(u) De Oratore, lib. iii. c. 102.
(z) Qudm denique illi etiam quifecentnt modos, A quibus utrisque summitftur aliquid, deinde angetur
extewtatur, inflatur, variatur, distinguitur.
(y) Agonis est quadam L&yb&tana veneris Erycin<z: qua Mulier ante hunc quastorem, copiosa
plane, et locuples fnit. Ab hoc pnzfedus Antonii quidam symphoniacos servos abditcebat per injuriatn,
quibus se in classe uti velle dicebat. V. i. p. 530. Ed. Gnev.
(z) Accedit illud, quod ffla concionalis hirudo Mrarii, misera ae jejuna plebecula, (i.e. Clodius's
hungry venal mob) me ab hoc Magno (i.e. Pompey) unice dJQigi putat. Et hercule multa et jucunda
consuetudine conjunct! inter nos sumus, usque ed, ut nostri isti comissatores oonjvrationis, barbatuli
juvenes, ilium in sermonibus Cnaum Ciceronem appellent. Itaquc et Ludis, & gladiatoribvis mirandas
eTnanr/aawrtas sineulla pastoricid FistiM auferebamus.
Letters to Atticus, Book i. Epist. 16.
377
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
It is certain too, from several passages in Greek Writers, (a) that
ancient vocal Music had its Ritornels, or Symphonies, which
were expressed by the term MsoavAia, Mesatdici, a figurative'
word, implying in the singular number an entry or passage, leading
to something else (&).
And according to Apuleius, who discovers himself in many
parts of his writings to have been an excellent judge of Music, it
must have been much cultivated, and well understood, in his time,
which was the second century. He describes the several parts of
a musical entertainment in the following manner: " She ordered
the Cithara to be played, and it was done : she asked for a concert
of flutes, and their melifluous sounds were immediately heard : she,
lastly, signified her pleasure that Voices should be joined to the
instruments, and the souls of the audience were instantly soothed
with sweet sounds (c)."
The same author (d), likewise, describes a musical performance
at the celebration of a great festival in honour of Ceres, or Isis,
at the time of his own initiation into the Eleusinian Mysteries, in
such a manner as would suit many modern performances.
" A band of Musicians now filled the air with a melodious
concert of Flutes and Voices. They were followed by a chorus
of youths, dressed in white robes, suitable to the solemnity, who
alternately sung an ingenious Poem, which an excellent Poet,
inspired by the Muses, had composed, in order to explain the subject
of this extraordinary festival. Among these marched several
players on the Flute, consecrated to the great Serapis, who
performed many airs dedicated to the worship of the God in his
Temple. After this, the venerable ministers of the true religion,
shook with all their force the Sistrums of brass, silver, and gold,
which produced tones so clear and sonorous, that they might have
been heard at a great distance from the place of performance (e).
(a) Arist. Quint, p. 26. Eustath. . fIA«£S. X. Hesych. voc. AwwXtov.
(fr) Vitruv. lib. vi. cap. 10. Meibomius, in his first preface, speaking of the Term jieouvXtov calls
it Inifrpiping. He was of opinion that the Ancients had Instrumental Music between the acts or
scenes of their plays, " to recreate both spectators and actors, and to give the latter time to prepare
themselves."
(c) Metam. lib. xi. (Q &&. lib. v.
(e) That Music was both cultivated and heard in sone ages of antiquity, with a greater degree of
enthusiasm than others, is certain ; and it is equally difficult to resist the torrent of eloquence and
panegyric with which its effects are described by respectable historians or philosophers, and to refrain
from a seeming credulity concerning its powers ; but though I am not convinced that the ancient
Music, with respect either to Harmony or Melody, in their present acceptation, was equal to the
modern, yet I can easily believe that, with the assistance of Poetry, religious veneration, the pomp of
public exhibition, joined to native sensibility and passion in the hearers, great effects may have been
produced by this Music, whatever it was, and however it may essentially have differed from our own.
In speaking, therefore, of a Musician of past times, as it has been my constant rule to compare him
with his cotemporanes ; so in describing the Music in general of remote ages of the world, it has been
my wish that the reader should mount up to each particular period of which I write, and consider
the Music of antiquity as relative to the knowledge and ideas of those who heard it. Nothing is more
certain than that the best Music of the time, in an ages, has greatly delighted its hearers. But
notwithstanding the great difference between that of one age and another, the same terms have been
constantly used in describing it However, from a similitude of description, we must not infer a
similitude of the thing described. Words are vague and fallacious ; and the exclamations, , admirable !
fine ! exquisite 1 represent nothing fixed or certain. The utmost weight we ought to give them, is
to suppose that the Music or Musician, upon which they were bestowed, was the best within the know-
ledge ~qf the writer. This kind of merit is all comparative. No terms can be devised to express the
last refinements, and even excesses of opera gfaffrgt more strong than those which Strada uses to
describe the imiriRfti refinements of the sixteenth century. Yet, if examples of these refinements
could now be He&fd, thftir dissimilitude would sufficiently prove the fallacy of verbal description.
378
HISTORY OF THE MUSIC OF THE ROMANS
As Apuleius,; after Lucian, whom he imitates, lays the scene of
his Metamorphosis in Greece, we may imagine that his ideas of
Music and musibal performances were Greek. One great impedi-
ment to the progress of Music among the Romans, was that they
wholly abandoned to their slaves the practice of the liberal arts ;
and the greater their talents, the more severely were they in general
treated. Whereis the Greeks, on the contrary, confined the exercise
of those arts, as the epithet liberal implies, to free men, and persons
of birth and rank, forbidding their slaves the study and use of
them. Whence is it easy to imagine which of these two nations
would bring them to the greatest degree of perfection.
What nature was to the Greeks," says the Abb<§ Gedoyn (/),
" the Greeks were to the Romans, as the natives of Greece had
no other example than nature herself to follow, for no nation, with
which they had any intercourse, was learned and polished before
them. The Romans, on the contrary, had the Greeks for models."
This representation is not to be admitted without reserve. For the
first learned Greeks, as has been already shewn, had^ travelled
into Egypt ; and the fiist Romans had received information, upon
several subjects, from Etruria, and even from Sicily, before the
conquest of Greece. It is true, that from the period of their
conquest of that country, may be dated the rapid progress they
made in luxury, and their admiration of the fine arts. About the
year 601 of the city, and 153 B.C. the Romans saw their first Poets
flourish such as Nsevius, Livius Andronicus, Ennius, Accius,
Pacuvius, and Lucilius.
They were long more renowned as a military, than an elegant
and learned people. At length, however, they imitated the Greeks
in the institution of musical and poetical contests, at their public
Games ; but it was not till the time of Augustus, that the glory of
their writers, in prose and verse, bore any proportion to that of their
military commanders. In the times of the emperors, who reigned
before the establishment of the Christian religion, the Greeks and
Asiatics were servilely imitated by the Romans, not only in the
liberal arts, but in all those of luxury and refinement, particularly
in public shews and games, with which the people were amused by
their tyrants, who endeavoured to make them forget, during these
expensive moments of idleness and dissipation, the slavish and
degenerate state to which they were reduced.
Nero, in the year 60 after Christ, instituted exercises of Music,
Poetry, and Eloquence, to be performed at Rome every 5th year.
In the 63d year A.C. he mounted the stage himself at Naples as
a public singer. This was his first appearance as a strolling Minstrel.
His second was in Greece, in 66, where he pretended, in imitation of
Flamininus, to restore to the Grecian States their ancient liberties.
After entering the lists with common musicians at the Olympic
Games, and acquiring the prize of Music by corrupting the judges
or his competitors, he travelled through Greece, not prompted by
(/) Mem. deLitt.
379
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
the laudable curiosity of visiting the antiquities of that once
celebrated country, but by the low ambition of displaying his skill in
singing and playing upon the Cithara. He every where challenged
the best performers, and, as may be imagined, was always declared
victor. And that there might remain no memorials of other victors,
he commanded all their statues to be pulled down, dragged through
the streets, and to be either broken in pieces, or thrown into the
common sewers (g).
At his return from Greece he entered Naples, Antium, Albanum,
and Rome, through a breach in the wall of each city, as an Olympic
victor, carrying with him in triumph, like spoils of an enemy, 1800
prizes which he had extorted from the judges in musical contests :
in the same Car in which kings used to be brought in triumph, who
had been vanquished by Roman generals, and with the same
splendor, pomp, and solemnity, was Diodorus, a celebrated Greek
performer on the Cithara, with other eminent musicians, brought
through the streets of Rome, leaving it doubtful, which was the
greatest, the vanity of Nero in imagining himself superior to these
professed musicians, or their adulation in confessing themselves to
have been vanquished by Nero.
The solicitude with which this emperor attended to his voice,
as related by historians, is curious, and will throw some light upon
the practices of singers in ancient times. Suetonius infernos us, that
to preserve his voice, he used to lie upon his back, with a thin plate
of lead upon his stomach ; took frequent emetics and cathartics ;
and abstained from all kinds of fruit, and such meats as were
thought to be prejudicial to singers ; and, at length, from the
apprehension of hurting his voice, he ceased to harrangue the
soldiery or senate, contenting himself with issuing his orders in
writing, or by the mouth of some of his friends or freed men. After
his return from Greece, he established about his person a Phonascus
or officer, to take care of his voice : he would never speak but in
the presence of this vocal governor, who was first to admonish him,
when he spoke too loud, or strained his voice ; and afterwards, if
the emperor, transported by some sudden emotion, did not listen
to his remonstrances, he was to stop his mouth with a napkin. The
most effectual means of acquiring his favour was to commend his
voice, which, according to Suetonius, was both thin and husky; to
pretend raptures while he sung, and to appear dejected and very
importunate, if, like many other singers, through caprice, he
desisted from doing what he himself most ardently desired.
Encouraged by the applause of the multitude, he appeared
almost every day on the stage, inviting not only the senators and
knights, but the whole populace and rabble of Rome, to hear him,
generally in the theatre which he had built in his own palace. He
frequently detained the audience not only the whole day, but the
whole night: for till he was tired himself and desisted, no one was
on any account suffered to depart: so that women are said to have
(g) Suet. cap. 24.
380
HISTORY OF THE MUSIC OF THE ROMANS
been delivered in the theatre, and several persons were so tired and
disgusted with the performance, that finding the gates of the palace
shut, they either leaped over the walls at the hazard of their lives,
or counterfeited death, in order to be carried out to their funeral (h).
Some by continuing night and day in the same posture were seized
with mortal distempers ; these, however, they dreaded less than the
resentment of the prince, which they would have unavoidably
incurred by their absence. Besides the great number of secret
observers employed to watch the countenances and behaviour of
the audience, there were many open spies who publicly set down
the names of such as discovered the least symptoms of dissatisfac-
tion: the vulgar were instantly punished by the soldiery for the
least inattention ; and upon persons of rank, the vengeance of the
emperor was vented in a still more dreadful manner. Vespasian,
afterwards emperor, greatly provoked the anger of Nero, by
escaping from the theatre during the time of performance: how-
ever, fearing the consequences of the offence which he had given,
he returned, in order to make reparation ; but, unfortunately,
falling asleep while the emperor was singing, this male siren was ..o
enraged at his inattention, that it would have cost him his life, if
his friends, men of the highest rank and merit, had not employed
their prayers and mediation in his behalf (f).
The successors of Nero encouraged public games and dramatic
representations in all the great cities of the empire. Adrian, who
had been educated at Athens, was much attached to Grecian
customs, and in a particular manner favourable to that city. In the
year 126 A.C. he presided there in the public games: in 132 he
instituted new games, and built temples in Egypt to the honour of
his favourite Antinous: and in 125 he celebrated at Athens the
great Festival of Bacchus. His successor, Antoninus, 142 A.C.,
likewise instituted new games called Pia and PiaHa, in honour of
his predecessor, which were appointed to be exhibited at Puteoli on
the 2d year of every Olympiad.
The emperor Commodus, little less a monster than Nero, was
equally fond of appearing on a public stage, not only as a dancer
and an actor, who of course was a singer, but as a gladiator, a
profession which seems to have been peculiar to the Roman thirst
of blood. In modern times the duellists plead provocation, and
the wounds which honour has received; and in the combats of our
own prize-fighters for the amusement of the public, death was not
a certain consequence of being vanquished ; but the Romans, not
content with casting captive kings into dungeons, and deliberately
putting them to death after pride and avarice had been satiated,
made one of their most delightful amusements consist in seeing the
blood of their fellow-creature, and often of their fellow-citizen,
spilt on a stage. The public games and contentions which they had
from the Greeks, either promoted manly strength and activity, or
(h) Suet. cap. 23.
(t) Idem, in VespasianOy cap. 4. Tacit. Annal. Lib. xiv. cap. 5.
.381
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
some ingenious and ornamental art ; but the combats of gladiators
could only steel the hearts of the spectators, and render them
insensible to every feeling of humanity.
Notwithstanding all the assistance which the Romans received
from the Greeks in the Polite Arts, and all the encouragement of
these institutions, they never advanced so far in them as the
modern Italians have done ; who, without any foreign help, have
greatly surpassed not only their forefathers the ancient Romans,
but even the Greeks themselves, in several of the arts, and in no one
so much as that of Music, in which every people of Europe have,
at different times, consented to become their scholars.
I shall here terminate my enquiries concerning the Music of
the ancients, and the present Book; reserving for the sequel, the
History of such Music as more modern times have been delighted
with, beginning with its Introduction into the Church : and it is
hoped that the narrative will become more interesting to the reader
in proportion as he advances towards Certainty, and the account
of things that we are not only sure have existed, but of many,
though of ancient origin, which still exist; including whatever the
moderns have retained, improved, or invented, relative to the ART
and SCIENCE of MUSIC.
A List and Description of the
Plates to Book I
PLATE I.
Egyptian musical instrument of two strings represented on the
broken obelisk in the Campus Martius at Rome; p. 390, and
described p. 170.
PLATE II.
The Theban Harp, p. 391, described on pp. 181-3.
PLATE III.
Hebrew Chants, see pp. 392-3, described p. 214.
PLATE IV.
No. 1, 2, and 3. Antique Masks, described p. 135, Note (/).
4. A Bacchanal playing on two Flutes of the same pitch, Tibia
Pares. From an ancient vase in the Giustiniani palace, at Rome.
5. The figure of a Cupid playing on two Flutes with Stopples,
or plugs. From an ancient painting in the Museo at Portici. The
use of these stopples seems to have been to stop or open the holes of
a Flute before a piece began, in order to accommodate the scale
to some particular mode or genus. See further account of them,
No. 2, Plate VI.
6. Pan playing on the Syrinx, from an ancient Basso Relievo
of Greek sculpture, in the Giustiniani palace at Rome, representing
the nursing of Jupiter by Amalthea. This figure holds in one hand
the Syrinx, and in the other a Horn, resembling the Shawm
represented upon the Arch of Titus, among the Hebrew instruments,
supposed to have been copied from those which this emperor had
brought from Jerusalem.
7. A Citharistra, or female minstrel, from an ancient picture
representing a marriage, in the Aldobrandini palace at Rome. The
instrument is slung over the shoulder of the performer by a ribbon,
and is played without a plectrum. This celebrated painting was
found during the time of Pope Clement VIII. in the gardens of
Mecsenas.
8. The Tuba, or long trumpet, called by the Hebrews the
Trumpet of the Jubilee. It may be seen in several pieces of ancient
sculpture at Rome, particularly on the Arch of Titus, and on Trajan's
Pillar. The drawing, whence this was engraved, was made from a
383
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Basso Relievo at the Capitol, representing the triumph of Marcus
Aurelius.
9. A Timbrel, or Tambour de Basque.
10. A double Lituus. The Lituus was a crooked military
instrument, in the form of the augural staff, whence it has its name.
It was a species of Clarion, or octave Trumpet, made of metal, and
extremely loud and shrill, used by the Romans for the Cavalry, as
the strait Trumpet was for the Foot. Horace distinguishes it from
the Tuba or Trumpet :
Multos castra juvant, et Lituo Tubse
Permistus sonitus, Od. i. 1. 23.
as Ciaudian does from the Flute.
Tibia pro Lituis, <§• pro clangore Tubarum
Holle Lyrce, faustumque canant.
The two last instruments were taken from an ancient bas-relief in
the Vitaleschi palace at Rome, representing a sacrifice.
A genuine ancient metaline Lituus is now in the possession of
Sir Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society, see Plate IV.* It
was found with many other antiquities, both Roman and Anglo-
Saxon, in clearing the bed of the river Withem, near Tattershall, in
Lincolnshire, 1761, and is perhaps the only instrument of the kind
that is now extant. It is a long narrow tube, with a swelling curve
at the end, like the double Lituus, PL IV. No. 10, and the double
Flute, PL VI. No. 2, but resembling still more an instrument
sculptured on the base of Trajan's Pillar at Rome. It is neatly
made of very thin brass, in three parts, like German Flutes, and has
been well gilt. Its length is upwards of four feet, though the end
nearest the mouth has been evidently broken off. This instrument
frequently appears on ancient medals as a symbol of war, and is
terminated by the head of a Boar, and sometimes of a Snake. See
PL IV.**, an ancient family medal of Albinus, struck during the
time of the Republic, between the first Punic War and the reign of
Augustus.
11. 12 and 13, are all taken from the same piece of ancient
sculpture, or bas-relief, in the Ghigi palace at Rome, representing a
group of musicians singing an epithalamium. Of these, 11 and 12
are Lyres or Harps of different construction, but both furnished with
too great a number of strings to have been of very high antiquity.
There is something singularly animated and pleasing in the position
of the performer's right arm, No. 12; where it seems as if, after
having touched a string with some force, she was carrying it round
with a kind of flourish. The difficulty of expressing motion in a
drawing is so great, that without suggesting this idea, the action of
the figure may be misunderstood, and appear aukward as a fixed
attitude or position, though as a transient attitude and moving
position, it is very easy, light, and graceful. 13, is a double Flute,
or two tubes in unison with each other, blown with one mouth-piece.
It may be necessary to apprize the reader that all the figures and
384
LIST AND DESCRIPTION OF PLATES
instruments on this plate are, as usual, reversed in printing, and
that the business which appears to have been performed by the right
hand in the original, and drawings made from it, seems now to have
been done by the left.
PLATE V.
No. 1 and 2, are representations of the Testudo, or Lyre of
Amphion, in front and profile, as it appears on the base of the
celebrated Toro Farnese at Rome. See page 225. This admirable
work, consisting of four figures bigger than the life, besides the
Toro, or bull, was found in Caracalla's baths, where the Farnese
Hercules was likewise discovered and, except the Laocoon, is the
only piece of Greek sculpture mentioned by Pliny, that is now
remaining. The two projections near the bottom of No. 1 seem to
have been fastenings for the strings, and to have answered the
purpose of tail-pieces in modern instruments.
3. The Lyre held by Terpsichore, in the picture of that Muse,
dug out of Herculaneum.
4. The Psaltery, as it is delineated in the ancient picture of the
Muse Erato, dug likewise out of Herculaneum. See p. 242. Don
Calmet says the Psaltery was played upon by a Bow, or plectrum :
now, besides the almost certainty of the bow being unknown to the
ancients, the form of this Psaltery is such as makes it impossible to
be played upon with a bow. The Hebrew Psaltery, however, must
have been an instrument of a different form from this. It had
originally ten strings, and is called frequently the Ten-stringed Harp,
by David in the Psalms. The Hebrew name for it is Nebel, or Nebel
Nassor, whence the Greek Nafttiov, and Latin Nablium. Vide
Bianchini De Tribus Gen. Inst. Hus. Vet. Org. p. 35. Kircher
imagines it to have been a horizontal Harp, played with a plectrum,
and that it furnished the first idea of a Harpsichord. But there must
have been two kinds of Psaltery in antiquity, as Athenaeus, lib. v.
cap. 25 mentions the yafayeiov ogftiov, the upright Psaltery, of which
kind must have been that under consideration in the hands of the
T&OS& Erato.
5. A Trigonum, or Triangular Harp. It is taken from an
ancient painting in the Museum of the king of Naples, in which it is
placed on the shoulder of a little dancing Cupid, who supports the
instrument with his left hand, and plays upon it with his right. The
Trigonum is mentioned by Athenseus, lib. iv. and by Julius Pollux,
lib. iv. cap. 9. According to Athenaeus, Sophocles calls it a Phrygian
instrument, and one of his Dipnosophists tells us, that a certain
musician of the name of Alexander Alexandrinus was so admirable a
performer upon it, and had given such proofs of his abilities at
Rome, that he made the inhabitants povoopavew, musically mad.
This little instrument resembles the Theban Harp, PL II. in wanting
one side to complete the triangle. The performer too, being a native
of Alexandria, as his name implies, makes it probable it was an
Egyptian instrument upon which he gained his reputation at Rome.
VOL. i. 25 385
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
6. The Abyssinian Testudo, or Lyre, in use at present in the
province of Tigre. From a drawing by Mr. Bruce. See p. 180.
7. The Cymbalum, or Crotalo, seen frequently in the
Bacchanalian sacrifices in ancient sculpture. It is still in general use
in eastern countries, and has lately been introduced among the
troops of almost all the princes of Europe, to mark the steps of the
soldiers during their march. This engraving was made from an
ancient painting at Portici, in which it is placed in the hands of a
Bacchante, who beats time upon it to her own dancing. Though
Crotalo is the modern Italian name of this instrument, xgoralov in
Greek, and Crotalum Latin, implied one that was different from the
Cymbalum; a kind of Castanet. Vide Cic. in Pison. 9.
8. A Hexachord, or Lyre of six strings, in the hand of a Grecian
Apollo, in the Capitoline Musseum, at Rome. The three openings at
the bottom seem designed to answer the purpose of sound-holes in
the belly of the instrument.
"~ 9. A Dichord, or instrument o{ two strings, with a neck,
resembling that upon the great Egyptian obelisk in the Campus
Martius at Rome. See page 170 and Plate I, page 390. This
was taken from an antique painting, in a sepulchral grotto, near the
ancient Tarquinia, and obligingly communicated to me by Mr.
Byers of Rome, who intends publishing the antiquities of that city.
10. An Etruscan Lyre, with seven strings, in the collection of
Etruscan, Greek, and Roman Antiquities, published from the
cabinet of the Hon. Sir William Hamilton, Vol. I. Naples 1766. PI.
CIX. Though the vase upon which it is represented is of such
indisputable and remote antiquity, the tail-piece, bridge, belly, and
sound-holes have a very modern appearance, and manifest a
knowledge in the construction of musical instruments among the
Etruscans, superior to that of the Greeks and Romans, in much
later times. The lower part of the instrument has much the
appearance of an old Base-Viol, and it is not difficult to discover in
it more than the embryo of the whole Violin family. The strings lie
round, as if intended to be played on with a bow; and even the cross
lines on the tail-piece are such as we frequently see on the tail-pieces
of old Viols.
11. The Tripodian Lyre of Pythagoras the Zacynthian, from a
bas-relief in the Maffei palace at Rome, representing the whole
choir of the Muses. Athenseus gives the following account of this
extraordinary instrument, lib. xiv. cap. 15, p. 637.
"Many ancient instruments are recorded of which we have so
little knowledge, that we can hardly be certain of their existence;
such as the Tripod of Pythagoras the Zacynthian, which, on account
of its difficulty, continued in use but a short time. It resembled in
form the Delphic Tripod, whence it had its name. The legs were
equidistant, and fixed upon a moveable base that was turned by the
foot of the player; the strings were placed between the legs of the
stool; the vase at the top served for the purpose of a sound-board,
and the strings of the three sides of the instrument were tuned to
three different modes, the Doric, Lydian, and Phrygian. The
380
LIST AND DESCRIPTION OF PLATES
performer sate on a chair made on purpose. Striking the strings
with the fingers of the left hand, and using the plectrum with the
right, at the same time turning the instrument with his foot to
whichever of the three modes he pleased; so that by great practice
he was enabled to change the modes with such velocity, that those
who did not see him, would imagine they heard three different
performers playing in three different modes. After the death of this
admirable musician, no other instrument of the same kind was ever
constructed."
12. A Lyre in the famous ancient picture dug out of
Herculaneum, upon which Chiron is teaching the young Achilles to
play. See p. 258.
13. The Sistrum, an Egyptian instrument of sacrifice; and one
that is still used in religious ceremonies by the inhabitants of
Abyssinia. See p. 179. This representation was drawn from an
ancient Sistrum preserved in the library of St. Genevieve at Paris.
It has been disputed by the Abbe Winckelmann whether the Sistrum
was of very high antiquity in Egypt, because it did not appear in
the hands of such Egyptian statues as he had seen at Rome; but as
there is one in the hand of a very ancient statue of Isis which Doctor
Pococke brought into England from Egypt, it puts that point of
musical history out of all dispute. The Sistrum appears in the Isiac
Table; and Apuleius makes an old Greek invoke an Egyptian priest
"by the Sistrum of Pharos." By Pharos, an Egyptian island, was
here figuratively meant, aU Egypt.
14. A Lyre richly ornamented: it is placed on the stump of a
tree, by the side of an antique statue of Apollo, formerly in the
Salviati collection at Rome, but now in the possession of General
Valmoden, in Germany. The Apollo leans on the Lyre.
PLATE VI.
No. 1. The head of a Tibicen, or Flute-player, from a vase in
Sir William Hamilton's collection of Etruscan antiquities, Vol. 1,
PI. 124, to shew the (pogfata, Capistrum, or Bandage, used for the
purpose of augmenting the force of the wind, and for preventing the
swelling of the cheeks. See p. 232. These Flutes are equal in
diameter and length, and as no holes are visible in them, they must
have been of the Trumpet kind.
2. A double Flute, of an uncommon kind, on a Bas-relief in the
Farnese collection at Rome. These tubes of different lengths and
keys or stopples, are blown at once by a female bacchanal. Vossius,
De Poemat. Cant. p. 110, says from Proclus, that every hole of the
ancient Flute furnished at least three different sounds, and if the
cocLQaTQvrtijpaTa, or side-holes, were opened, still more than three.
Arcadius Grammaticus says, that the inventors of the holes of the
Flute contrived a method of stopping and opening them at pleasure,
by certain horns, or pegs, which, by turning them in and out, and
moving them up and down, multiplied sounds, according to Vossius,
like different strings upon a Lyre. But that could not be the case
in this instrument, at least during performance, as most of the plugs
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
or stopples were out of reach of the musician's hand; besides, the
hands were employed in supporting the instrument; and though, in
our Bassoon, and even Hautbois and German Flute, we are able, by
means of keys, to open and close holes which the fingers cannot
reach, yet as no such expedients appear in the representations of
ancient wind-instruments, it is difficult to assign any other use to
these plugs or stopples than that already mentioned, of adjusting the
scale to some particular mode or genus before performance, as our
Trumpets or Horns are tuned to keys of different pitch by means of
crooks, and our Flutes by middle pieces of different lengths. It seems
as if the longest of the two tubes in this number had a Horn joined
to the end of it, which gives it the form of a Lituus. Bartholinus,
De Tib. Vet. makes this curvature at the end the characteristic of
the Phrygian Flute. P. 48, he gives two Flutes of this kind, with
plugs; one strait and the other curved, and tells us, from Aristotle's
acoustics, that loudness and clearness were acquired by the addition
of the Horn : Cornua resonando instrumentorum sonos reddunt
clariores. It is most likely too that it rendered the tube to which it
was added an octave lower than the other.
3, and 4, are both taken from the beautiful Sarcophagus in the
Campidoglio, or Capitoline Museum, at Rome, where each of them
is placed in the hand of a Muse. The three rows of holes in No. 4,
it is probable, were for the three Genera, or three different modes,
which both Pausanias and Athnseus tell us Pronomus first contrived
to express by one and the same Flute. See p. 66. This instrument
has a mouth-piece with a Fipple like our common Flute, which
seldom appears in representations of ancient instruments.
5. Tibia Utricularis, or Bag-pipe, from a bas-relief in the court
of the Santa Croce palace at Rome. This instrument appears not to
have been wholly unknown to the Greeks, who, according to
Montfaulcon, called it awavlos. I saw the representation of one in
marble in the possession of Mr. Morrison, at Rome. It seems,
however, to have been a Roman invention with a Greek name; a
piece of affectation that was frequently practised about the time of
Nero. Greek was the French of the Romans. The term does not
occur, however, in H. Stephens, Scapula, Meursius, Suicer, nor in
Scott. In Faber's and Martin's Latin Dictionaries, Ascaules is to
be found, with a reference to Seneca, Vopiscus, and Martial, x. 3.
The two former use Pithaules, the one in Epist. Ixxvi. and the other
in the life of Carinus, Vol. II. p. 819, ed. Varior, where the word is
explained and illustrated by an elaborate note of Salmasius. Martial,
lib. x. ep. 3 gives Canus Ascaules. From the silence of Lexicographers
we may conclude, that the word appears in no Greek author. Isaac
Vossius strenuously denies that Utricularius means a player on a
Bagpipe: the instrument in question was, according to him, an
Organ blown by Bellows, as distinguished from the Hydraulic, or
Water-Oigan; "but to suppose," says he, "that the Utricularius was
like our wretched mendicants that stroll about— Cubito excutientes
sonum — is most ridiculous!" p. 99. A passage, however, in Dion
Chiysostom, clearly proves this enthusiastic admirer of. ancient
3*8
LIST AND DESCRIPTION OF PLATES
Music to have been mistaken. For, speaking of Nero, the Greek
writer says, that he played on the Flute with a bladder, or leathern
bag of wind, under his arm. And for this he assigns a reason, which
is curious : ' 'that he might avoid making the ugly faces with which
Minerva was so much offended." Nothing can describe a modern
Bagpipe more decisively.
On an ancient gem, in the possession of Signer Can. Lellari, at
Cortona, of which an impression has been lately sent to Jos. C.
Walker, Esq., of Dublin (See *, PL VI.) there is engraved an Apollo,
crowned, after vanquishing Marsyas, with a Lyre in his hands, and
a Cornamusa, or Bagpipe, behind him.
It is probable that the union of the Bagpipe with the Syrinx
suggested the first idea of an organ. According to Suetonius, when
Nero heard of the revolt by which he lost his empire and life, he
made a solemn vow, that if it should please the Gods to extricate
him from his present difficulties, he would perform in public — on the
Bagpipe. Suet, in Nerone, 54.
6. The Concha, Tromba Marina,** or Sea-Trumpet, sounded by
a Triton on a frieze, likewise, in the court of the Santa Croce palace
at Rome. Athenseus, lib. iii. p. 86, mentions a kind of shell, which
was called xijQvg, the shell of the cryer or herald, perhaps, from its
sonorous quality. It is translated Buccina, and Casaubon says it
was the shell of the Murex.
7. A Tambour de Basque, Tabretf or Timbrel, from the picture
of a Baccante, or female Bacchanal, dug out of Herculaneum. This
instrument is of very high antiquity, having been in use among the
Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans. To the rim were hung bells or
pieces of metal.
8. and 9. Tibia pares, or equal Flutes, in the hands of the young
Olympus, who in a picture likewise dug out of Herculaneum, is
learning to play upon them of Marsyas. There are only two holes in
each of these instruments; and in another antique picture upon the
same subject, from the same place, each of the Flutes is represented
with two paxilli, or stopples, instead of foramina, or holes.
10. An ancient instrument, as yet inedited, among the
antiquities of Herculaneum; it is of a very peculiar kind, lately dug
out of Pompeia, a city that was destroyed by an eruption of Mount
Vesuvius at the same time as Herculaneum. It is a Trumpet or large
tube of bronze, surrounded by seven small pipes of bone or ivory,
inserted in as many of metal. These seem all to terminate in one
point, and to have been blown through one mouth-piece. The small
pipes are all of the same length and diameter, and were probably
unisons to each other, and octaves to the great Tube. There is a
ring to fasten a chain to, by which it was flung over the shoulder of
the performer, which chain is likewise preserved. The instrument
was found in the Corps de Garde of this subterraneous city, and
seems to have been the true military Clangor Tubarum.
** Bumey is wrong in calling this instrument the " tromba marina." He was probably
led into error by the name.
389
PI-ATE I
AN EOYFTIAN
MUSICAL INSTRUMENT
one third of tlie size of tlie
original, on tne broken
obelisk, now lying in tne
Campus Martius at Rome.
Described on p. 170.
390
PLATE II
PLATE
v CHANT of &e German Jews to Pfalm XI. of the B^raod
*•-*?
»L
pffpe
Melody to the Title of the LI. Pfalm,. or Lamnatzeach, as fang 07 the Span Jews
Notation of ibme of the Hebrew MUSICAL ACCENTS, ia the manner \vhich Kircher i
verfe ia the Pfalms, or^b of a
O Qi
ma
Fhsrib
l*?
Karon
'Paler
TOn^Q
Lcgonniah
GiU Zik
392
PLATE III
fcraud Englifli Pfalter, and the tenth of the Latitr verfion.-ufed in the Romifli church.
m
•
Another, to Pfalm XVI. (LatXV.)
CHANT of the Spanilh Jews, to Pfalm XVII. (L«. XVJ.) j
i
Another, to Pfalm XVIII. (Lat. XVII.)
CHANT of the German Jews, to Pfalm XXU. (Lat 'XXI.)
t. xxn.)
a
-»-•«-
Jews.
m
i they were {bag during his time in the Italian* and German. Synagogues, at the end of a
'( \ of a featence in- the Prophets.
r Q.^W,^ q n
C> u ,
d£±
|-L
Q-Q n 0 ; o ^
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Segla
Sh.UKcleth
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itt o ti
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R
-&-7T-
B n II =
n
-Jp
)
0 ° J
-1 Q 0 '
rf-
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(I
lV:
« ept pep apt
«!l Zikegli Katoa Zakeph
n»n»
Kadna Eaihta Jathib
Gcrilbia Shent
393
PLATE JV
394
PLATE IV (Continued).
395
PLATE V
PLATE V (Continued).
397
PLATE VI
Reflections on
the Construction and Use
of some particular
Musical Instruments
of Antiquity
THE musical instruments of the ancients were of three kinds:
wind instruments; stringed instruments; and instruments of
Percussion. Of the FIRST kind the principal were the Flute,
Horn, Syrinx, Trumpet, and water Organ, under the several
denominations of Avloc, Tibia; KSQCLS, Cornu; ZatetiyS, Tuba,
Buccina, Lituus ; 2vefy£, Fistula, Calamus; and '
Hydraulicon. The SECdND class included the $oepuy£>
Cithara; Xslvs, Chelys, Testudo; AVQCL, Lyra, Fides; V
Psalterium, &c., which, in English, are indiscriminately called
Harp, Cithara, Lyre, and Psaltery. The THIRD class comprehended
the Tvfinavov, Tympanum; Tvpxaviov, Parvum Tympanum,
Tympanulum; Kvppafov, Cymbalum; KgoTcdov, Crotalum; Kodopetov,
Campanum CBS, or Drums, Cymbals, Crotola, and Bells.
Of these three genera the species were innumerable ; however, I
shall speak only of the principal of each genus, and first of wind
instruments.
The two instruments of this kind which nature has constructed,
and from which mankind, taught perhaps by the whistling reeds,
first tried to produce musical sounds, seem to have been the shells
of fishes, and the horns of quadrupeds ; and the Movavkos, or single
pipe, appears in sculpture to have been a mere horn in its natural
form. (See p. 175). Then succeeded the Avena, or single oaten
stalk ; the Calamus, or single reed, or cane ; and afterwards the
Syrinx, or Fistula, composed of a number of reeds of different
lengths tied together. These simple instruments preceded the
invention of Foramina, or holes, by which different sounds could
be produced from the same pipe. The Tibia was originally a Flute,
.made of the shank, or shin bone of an animal ; and it seems as if
the wind instruments of the ancients had been long made of such
399
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
i
materials as nature had hollowed, before the art of boring Flutes
was discovered. That once known, they were formed of box-tree,
laurel, brass, silver, and even of gold.
There are certain epithets applied to theatrical Flutes in the
titles to the Comedies of Terence, which have extremely embarrassed
the critics : such as Pares, Impares, Dextra, Sinistra ; and it has
been long doubted whether Pares and Impares meant double and
single Flutes, or ecjual and unequal in point of length and size. But
though in preferring either of these acceptations, some sense and
meaning is acquired, yet I should incline to the latter. For in none
of the representations in ancient painting or sculpture, which I
have yet seen, does it appear that the Tibicen, either at sacrifices
or in the theatre, plays on a single Flute, though we as often see
double Flutes of different lengths in his hands, as of the same
length ; and as harmony, or music in different parts, does not
appear to have been practised by the ancients, the Flutes of equal
length may naturally be supposed to imply unisons; and, unequal,
such as are octaves to each other. But as to the distinction between
right-handed and left-handed Flutes, I must own myself far from
being possessed of any clear and decisive idea concerning it. The
first, and most obvious meaning the words right and left, applied
to the hands that hold the Flutes, cannot afford a satisfactory
explanation : for as all the theatrical Flutes that I have ever seen
are double, holding them in the right or left hand can make no
difference to the audience.
It has been imagined by the abbe du Bos, that when the
theatrical Flutes were unequal, a drone base was performed on the
largest ; an idea to which I can by no means subscribe: for the
necessity of a clear and undisturbed elocution on the stage, joined
to the tenderness of the ancients for poetry, would have rendered
the noise and confusion of drone base more offensive to such as
attended to the interest of the drama, than the most florid and
complicated counterpoint. It is no uncommon thing to see one of
the unequal Flutes used upon these occasions strait, and the other
curved at the end. (See Plate VI.) Hesychius, as quoted by
Bartholinus, (p. 46) says, that the horned Flute was for the left hand,
the strait one for the right. That the longest of the two instruments
was for the left hand, Pliny seems to prove, when he speaks of
cutting the reeds with which they were made; for he says the part
next the ground being the widest, serves for the left-hand Flutes,
&c. These passages, however, furnish no proofs of their being
destined for different parts, or any thing more than octaves to each
other. Most of the double Flute-players represented in sculpture,
appear to grasp the instruments, without any motion of the fingers;
nor indeed in many of them are there any holes in sight to employ
them, which makes it probable that they were modulated by the
mouth like trumpets and horns.
Another difficulty occurs about these Flutes being always
double, that is, two single tubes held in different hands, or uniting
400
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF ANTIQUITY
intone mouth-piece. But as I have never seen more than one per-
former at a time represented in painting or sculpture, accompanying
the actors on the stage, or the priest at the altar, where these
double, or Phrygian Flutes were chiefly used, they may perhaps
have been preferred for their superior loudness ; for force must not
only be necessary to the voice in a large temple or theatre, but also
to the instruments that accompanied it, in order to the being heard
by such a numerous audience as was usually assembled there. Just
as the actor's voice was augmented by a mask, and his height
increased by stilts (a).
The muzzles, and bloated cheeks in representations, correspond-
ing with verbal descriptions, prove that quantity of sound was the
principal object of the ancients. This might be confirmed by
stories of Flute-players and Trumpeters bursting themselves in trials
of skill, and even in the common exercise of their profession.
Heliodorus, Mthiop. lib. ii. as Bartholinus translates the passage,
p. 97, describes a Flute-player with eyes inflamed, and starting out
of their sockets. Oculis incensis, ac sud sede excedentibus; and this
is analogous to the whole system of the ancient theatre.
The defects, however, peculiar to wind-instruments, seem to
have been as well known to the ancients as the moderns ; and
Aristoxenus, p. 43, complains of them in such strong terms, as
would be very applicable to the Flutes of modern times : KWOVVTCU
61 avKot, xcu ovSenors (hoavrcos s%ov<uv, i.e., Flutes are continually
shifting their pitch, and never remain in the same state. Among
many expedients to which he says performers had recourse, in
order to palliate these defects in the intervals, the use of wax,
occasionally, in the holes of their instruments seems to have been
one ; at least Meibomius, in his note on the passage, understands
wax to be meant as one method: for Aristoxenus, p. 42 and 43,
speaking of wind-instruments, talks of adding, and taking away.
This expedient must, however, have been used in order to supply
the want of skill in boring Flutes ; and the wax, in warm climates,
would be too subject to fusion for a performer to depend much upon
its assistance in the heat of action. An instrument of the Bassoon
kind, called the Courtaut, with two rows of projecting apertures,
resembling those in No. 3. PL VI., is described by Mersennus, De
Instrum. Harmon, lib. ii., who tells us that the Tetines, as he calls
the projections, were not moveable, but fixtures, and when those on
one side were used, those on the other were stopt with wax. The
pipes of the Fistula Panis, being composed of reeds or canes cut
just below the joint, were all siopt-pipes, like those in the stopt
diapason of the Organ, in which the wind is emitted at the same
place where it enters; and as it has a double motion to make, twice
the length of the tube, the tone is an octave lower of a stopt-pipe,
than of an open one of the same length and diameter. The Fistula
Panis of the island of New Amsterdam in the South Seas, is made
(a) See Dissert, sect, ix
Vox,, i. 26 401
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
of canes cut below the joints, and consequently of stopt-pipes; and
the pipes of an Arabian instalment of the same kind, which I have
lately received from Aleppo, are all stopt at the end with wax.
That the ancients used natural reeds and canes in the construc-
tion of their Flutes, we are certain ; but whether they had any
such artificial reeds as we use for our Hautbois, Bassoons, &c., my
researches do not enable me to decide. We find, indeed, in
Plutarch's Dialogue, mention of a Syrinx, or small pipe, that was
sometimes affixed to Flutes ; which M. Burette translates Hanche,
a word equivalent to our reed. But the impropriety of the transla-
tion is fully proved by a passage in another treatise of Plutarch,
where he gives it as a musical problem, "Why the Flute, when the
Syrinx is drawn up, becomes sharpened in all its sounds, that is,
has its whole pitch raised ; and when it is let down, or rather, laid
down* xhvopsvris, as if it was fixed to the instrument by a kind of
hinge, is again flattened (6). The purpose, therefore, of this pipe or
Syrinx, was totally different from that of our reeds, and was merely
to alter the pitch of the Flute. Nor was it at all necessary to the
instrument, as our reeds are ; for Plutarch relates, in the part of his
Dialogue above mentioned, that Telephanes, "had such an aversion
to these pipes, he would never suffer the Flute-makers to apply them
to his instruments ;" which was the principal reason why he never
entered 'the lists at the public games; where these additional pipes
seem to have been much in vogue: and, indeed, if their effect
rendered the intervals as false as those of our Flutes are by drawing
out the middle-pieces, it was a proof of his judgment, and delicacy
of ear.
If any part of the ancient Flutes answered to our reeds, I think
it must have been what they called the tongue, yla>mSj> lingula.
This appears to have been essential to the use of the instrument, as
pur reeds are. The Flutes could scarce be made to speak without
it; hence the wonder of Midas's performance (see p. 315, note /);
and the saying of Demades, the Athenian orator, who compared his
countrymen to Flutes, "they were good for nothing without their
tongues/' (Stob. Ser. 2). These Linguist were also moveable, and
earned about by the performers in little boxes which were called
yA&TToxofieta, or tongue-cases; as our reeds are at present. The
resemblance of these tongues and reeds in construction, as well as in
use, may perhaps appear the more probable to the reader from an
engraving, PL IV. No. 14, of a medal in the Numismata Pem-
brochiana, which was pointed out to me by the Hon. Daines
Barnngton. On one side is Cleopatra, and on the other, a winged
musician playing on an instrument which seems to be furnished
with an artificial reed; of which I shall only observe, that it is the
strongest proof I have met with, in coins or in sculpture, of the use
of such an expedient among the ancients, and that there cannot be
a more staking likeness of a modern Hautbois.
01|ywwr **weT<u (° a*Ao*' 5c-> ™
&r quidcm vfvi posse sound, E&eur. decreta.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF ANTIQUITY
The last wind instrument of which I shall speak is the
Hydraulicon, or Water-Organ, that was played, or at least blown,
by water. It seems, from the description of this instrument, in
Vitruvius, cap. xiii. that the water which forced the air into the
pipes was pumped by men. Indeed, it has been much disputed
whether it was played with fingers, by means of levers or keys; and
yet the description of it by Claudian seems such a one as would -suit
a modern Organ, only blown by water instead of bellows.
Vel qui magna levi detmdens murmura tactu
Innumeras voces segetis moderator aence
Intonet erranti digito, penitusque trabali
Vecte labor antes in carmina concitet undas.
In Athenaeus, lib. iv. p. 174, there is a history and description of
this instrument. He tells us that it was invented in the time of title
Second Ptolemy Euergetes, by Ctesibius, a native of Alexandria,
and by profession a barber : or rather, that it was improved by him,
for Plato furnished the first idea of the Hydraulic Organ, by invent-
ing a night-clock, which was a Clepsydra, or water-clock, that
played upon Flutes the hours of the night at a time when they
could not be seen on the index.
The anecdote in Athenaeus concerning the mechanical amuse-
ments of the great ideal philosopher, is curious. What a condescen-
sion in the divine Plato to stoop to the invention of any thing
useful! This musical clock must have been wholly played by
mechanism. But neither the description of the Hydraulic Organ
in Vitruvius, nor the conjectures of his innumerable commentators,
have put it in the power of the modems either to imitate, or
perfectly to conceive the manner of its construction ; and it still
remains a doubt whether it was ever worthy of the praises which
poets have bestowed upon it, or superior to the wretched
remains of the invention still to be seen in the grottos of the
vineyards, near the city of Rome. Perrault, in his notes upon
Vitruvius, lib. x. cap. 13. gives a drawing of this instrument, such
as he conceives it to have been from the description of it by that
author ; and tells us, that to illustrate his interpretation of the Latin
text, he had constructed an Hydraulic Organ, which was lodged
in the king of France's library, among the models of ancient and
modern machines. This author, who was a most ingenious
mechanic, points out, in the note mentioned above, an ingenious
and seemingly practicable method of swelling and diminishing the
force of each note in an organ, which modem builders have hitherto
neglected to adopt : it is to communicate wind to one pipe, or to two,
three, or more pipes, in proportion to the pressure of the key.
In the collection of antiquities bequeathed by Christina Queen
of Sweden to the Vatican, there is a large and beautiful medallion
of Valentinian, on the reverse of which is represented an Hydraulic
Organ, with two men, one on the right, and one on the left, who
seem to pump the w^ter which plays it, &nd to listen to its sound.
403
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
It has only eight pipes, placed on a round pedestal, and as no keys
or performer appear, it is probable that it was played by mechanism.
The Organ blown by bellows, and furnished with keys, such as are
in present use, though a descendant perhaps of the Hydraulicon,
does not so properly belong to this place as to the subsequent
volumes, where its invention will be discussed, and its improve-
ments traced among those of modern instruments*
Second genus, or Stringed^ instruments. The idea of producing
sound from a string, ascribed to Apollo, was, according to
Censorinus, De Die Nat. cap 22, suggested to him by the twang
of his sister Diana's bow. WG/./.SIV is strictly to twang a string,
and WaKiios the sound which the bow-string produces at the
emission of the arrow. Euripides in Bacck v. 782 uses it in that
sense,
Who twang the nerve of each elastic bow.
Father Montfaucon says it is veiy difficult to determine in
what the Lyre, Cithara, Chelys, Psaltery, and Harp differed from
each other ; as he had examined the representations of 600 Lyres
and Citharas in ancient sculpture, all which he found without a
neck, and the strings open as in the modern Harp, played by the
fingers. Antiq. Expl. torn. iii. lib. 5. cap. 3. But though ancient
and modern authors usually confound these instruments, yet a
manifest distinction is made by Arist. Quintil. in the following
passage, p. 101. After discussing the characters of wind-instru-
ments, he says, " Among the stringed instruments, you will find the
Lyre of a character analogous to masculine, from the great depth
or gravity, and roughness of its tones ; the Sambuca of a feminine
character, weak and delicate, and from its great acuteness, and the
sinallness of the strings, tending to dissolve and enervate. Of the
intermediate instruments the Polypthongum partakes most of the
feminine ; but the Cithara differs not much from the masculine
character of the Lyre." Here is a scale of stringed instruments ;
the Lyre and Sambuca at the extremes ; the Polypthongum and
Cithara between ; the one next to the Sambuca, the other next to
the Lyre. He afterwards just mentions that there were others
between these. Now it is natural to infer, that as he constantly
attributes the manly character to gravity of tone, the Cithara was
probably the more acute instrument of the two ; less loud and rough,
and strung with smaller strings. Concerning what difference there
might be in the form and structure of the instruments, he is wholly
silent. The passage, however, is curious as far as it goes, and
decisive. The Cithara may perhaps have been as different from
the Lyre, as a single Harp from one that is double ; and it seems
to be clearly pointed out by this multiplicity of names that the
404
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF ANTIQUITY
Greeks had two principal species of stringed instruments: one, like
our Harp, of full compass, that rested on its base ; the other more
portable, and slung over the shoulder, like our smaller Harp or
Guitar, or like ancient Lyres represented in sculpture.
Tacitus, Annal. xvi. 4. among the rules of decorum observed by
public performers, to which Nero, he says, strictly submitted,
mentions, " That he was not to sit down when tired." Ne fessus
resideret. It is remarkable that he calls these rules, Cithara Leges,
'" the Laws of the Cithara "; which seems to afford a pretty fair
proof of its being of such a size and form as to admit of being
played on standing.
The use of the Phorminx in Homer leads rather to the rough,
manly, Harp-like character (c). But a passage in Orpheus, Argon.
380. seems to make Phorminx the same as Chelys, the Lutiform
instrument of Mercury. It is there said of Chiron, that he " some-
times strikes the Cithara of Apollo ; sometimes the shell-resounding
Phorminx of Mercury,"
S'av <poif$ov xt&aQrjv pera %SQaiv
cpoQfJLiyya. %e}.vx/.ovov
This passage is curious; for though the Argonautics were not written
by Orpheus himself, they have all the appearance of great antiquity.
The belly of a Theorbo, or Arch-Lute, is usually made in the
shell-form, as if the idea of its origin had never been lost; and the
etymology of the word Guitar seems naturally deducible from
Cithara: it is supposed that the Roman C was hard, like the
modern K, and the Italian word Chitarra is manifestly derived
from Ki&aQa, Cithara.
In the hymn to Mercury, ascribed to Homer, Mercury and
Apollo are said to play with the Cithara under their arms, ver.
507, o 8' vncoAeviov xtftaQitev, sub ulna Cithard-ludebat, "played with
the Cithara under his arm." So in ver. 432, faoAmov, at his arm,
should, according to the critics, be vncofaviov, as it is afterwards. This
seems to point out a Guitar more than a Harp; but the ancients
had Lyres, Citharas, and Testudos of as different shapes from each
other, as our Harp, Spinet, Virginal, and Piano Forte.
These passages in old authors are a kind of antique drawings,
far more satisfactory than those of ancient sculpture; for I have
seen the Syrinx, which had a regular series of notes ascending or
descending, represented with seven pipes, four of one length, and
three of another, which of course would furnish no more than two
different sounds. The Cymbals too, which were to be struck against
each other, are placed in the hands of some antique figures in such
a manner, that it is impossible to bring them in contact with the
necessary degree of force, without amputating, or at least violently
bruising the thumbs of the performer. And it is certain that
artists continue to figure instruments in the most simple and
(c) See p. 273.
405
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
convenient form for their designs, long after they had been enlarged,
improved, and rendered more complicated. An instance of this
in our own country will confirm the assertion. In the reign of
George the Second a marble statue was erected to Handel, in
Vauxhall gardens. The musician is represented playing upon a
Lyre. Now if this statue should be preserved from the ravages of
time and accident 12 or 1400 years, the Antiquaries will naturally
conclude that the instrument upon which Handel acquired his
reputation was the Lyre; though we are at present certain that he
never played on, or even saw a Lyre, except in wood or stone.
In one of the ancient paintings at Portici, I saw a Lyre with a
Pipe or Flute for the cross-bar, or bridge, at the top; whether this
tube was used as a wind instrument to accompany the Lyre, or
only a pitch-pipe, I know not; nor, within the course of my
enquiries, has any example of such a junction occurred elsewhere.
The ancients seem to have been wholly unacquainted with one
of the principal expedients for producing sound from the strings
of modern instruments: this is the Bow. It has long been a
dispute among the learned, whether the Violin, or any instrument
of that kind, as now played with a bow, was known to the ancients.
The little figure of Apollo, playing on a kind of violin, with some-
thing like a bow, in the Grand Duke's Tribuna at Florence, which
Mr. Addison and others supposed to be antique, has been proved
to be modern by the Abbe Winckelmann, and Mr. Mings. So
that, as this was the only piece of sculpture reputed ancient, in
which any thing like a bow could be found, nothing more remains
to be discussed relative to that point.
With respect to an instrument with a neck, besides that on the
broken obelisk at Rome, see p. 243, and one from a sepulchral
grotto in the ancient city of Tarquinia, which will be described
hereafter, there is, in an antique painting in the collection of William
Lock, Esq. which consists of a single figure, supposed to be a
Muse, an instrument nearly in the form of a modern Violin, but
the neck is much longer, and neither bow nor plectrum is
discoverable near it. This may have been a Chelys, which was a
species of Guitar, either thrummed by the fingers, or twanged with
a quill. The painting was stolen out of the Navoni sepulchre,
commonly called Ovid's tomb, and had been near 200 years in
the Massima palace at Rome, when Mr. Lock purchased it.
Bianchini, De Instrum. vet, gives only one instrument in this
form. Tab. iv. No. 7, but never mentions the use of a bow.
He calls it the Chelys, or reformed Lyre of Mercury, which, says
he, p. 28, " having the power of shortening the strings by means
of a neck, varied the sound of the same string, like several magades.
Its form may be seen on an ancient vase, which is now in the
Giustiniani palace at Rome; it was published by Boissard, torn. ii.
p. 145, and in the last edition of Gruter, p. 816. It was played
on sometimes by the hand, and sometimes with a plectrum. See
Scalig. in ManiL p. 384."
406
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF ANTIQUITY
Indeed, the ancients had, instead of a Bow, the Plectrum, but
in all the representations which painting and sculpture have
preserved of this implement, it appears too clumsy to produce from
the strings tones that had either the sweetness or brilliancy of such
as are drawn from them by means of the bow or quilL But
notwithstanding it is represented so massive, I should rather
suppose it to have been a quill, or piece of ivory in imitation of
one, than a stick or blunt piece of wood or ivory. Indeed, Virgil
tells us, ;En. vi. 647, that it was made of ivory. (See note t, p.
266.)
Third genus : Instruments of percussion. Among these it does
not appear that the ancients had the long Cylindrical drum, such
as is now used in our armies; nor had they the Tymbal or Kettle
Drum, an invention which came from the Turks. All the antique
Drums seem of the flat Tambour de Basque form; but the Side
Drum is so inconvenient for sculpture, that it may have existed
without being copied by artists. Lampe De Cym. Vet. slightly
glances at the subject, K&.ii. cap. 12, where he gives a curious passage
from the Bacchae of Euripides, to prove that antiquity ascribed
the invention of the Drum to the Corybantes: the description he
uses is an exact definition of a Timbrel, or Tabor. He calls it
PVQOOTOVOV xv%Acona, "a circle with a skin or parchment stretched
over it," which points out the Timbrel form as well as the drawing.
With respect to Bells, though small ones were certainly known
in very high antiquity, as frequent mention is made of them in
the Bible; yet those of a large size, hung in towers, and rung by
ropes, were unknown till about the sixth century. The modern
Greeks have none in their churches, not from principle, but com-
pulsion, having been prohibited the use of them by their conquerors,
the Turks. A bell is called by Thucydides xnd&v ; by Diodorus
Siculus and Suidas JTAaray?/ ; Aristophanes has xa>&a>v£&; I ring; and
other Greek writers call it 'H%eiovf a vase. Plautus, Ovid,
Tibullus, Statius, and several other Latin writers mention bells
under the denominations of Tintinnabula, and sounding brass..
An account of the introduction of Bells into churches will be given
in the second Book.
407
A GENERAL HISTORY
OF MUSIC
BOOK II
Chapter I
Of the Introduction of Music into the Church, and of its
Progress there previous to the Time of Quido
THAT Music had very early admission in the sacred rites of the
Egyptians and Hebrews, has been already shewn ; and that
it likewise constituted a considerable part of the religious
ceremonies of the Greeks and Romans at all times, is certain, from
testimonies, and descriptions of those ceremonies, still to be found
in the most respectable writers of antiquity. Dionysius
HaJicarnassensis (a) relates that Dardanus, upon consulting the
Oracle concerning his settlement, among other things, had this
answer relative to the custody of the images of the Gods:
" Remember to establish in the city, which you shall build,
perpetual worship to the Gods, and to honour them with safeguards,
sacrifices, solemn Dances and Songs (&)/' Indeed there remain
(a) Lib. i.
(6) The late Mr. Spelman's note on this passage is curious with respect to chronology:
"The oracle," says he, that was delivered to Dardanus, if the authorities quoted by Dionysius,
which are Callistratus, Satynis, and Arctinus, the most ancient poet known in. his time, have
not misled him, is of the highest antiquity; since it was given to him before he founded the
kingdom of Troy, which happened in the 3234th year of the Julian period (Petavius, lib. ii.),
about 50 years after the Israelites came out of Egypt, and a little before the death of Joshua;
296 years before Troy was taken by the Greeks, in the reign of Priamus. It is very remarkable
that this oracle is in very good hexameter verse, and the language not at all different from that
of Hornet, who writ 500 years after this period; nor from the language of those poets who
writ 500 years after Homer,'* SpelmanTs Dionysius, vol. i. p. 153. If this account
could be relied on, the difficulty concerning Orpheus being the author of the verses
ascribed to him, vanishes, as well as that of Homer not having been able to write or read,
lote antiquity. See Wood's Posthumous
for want of language, and even letters, in such remote
Publication.
409
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
no proofs that any other language except poetry, through the
vehicle of music, had admission in the Rituals or Liturgies of the
Pagans. All the prayers, thanksgivings, and praises offered up to
their several divinities, were Songs and Choruses, accompanied by
musical instruments, and generally, by Dancing, or at least by a
solemn March and by Gestures. " If Music," says Censorinus,
" had not been acceptable to the immortal Gods, a Tibicen would
certainly not have assisted at every prayer in their temples (c)."
Horace calls music a friend to the temple (d)', and says, that " The
guardian gods of Numida are to be appeased by incense and
music (e)." Maximus Tyrius calls it " The Companion of
Sacrifices (/)." And according to Proclus, the very avenues of
the temple were furnished with music. " When they approached
the altars and temples they sung, and the tibia played in the
recess (g)."
It has already been observed that Plato was such a friend to
temple music, as to wish that no other should be heard either by
gods or men. And it appears that in all nations the first public
use of music has been in the celebration of religious rites and
ceremonies. Tacitus (h) informs us, that the ancient Germans used
to sing the praises of their Gods Teuton, or Tuisto, and Mannus,
in verses, with which they likewise recorded the most memorable
events in their history.
The propensity which the early Christians had to singing psalms
and hymns, may be gathered Acts xvi. 25, where St. Paul himself
and Silas are described singing in a dungeon (i) ; which was after-
wards imitated by other saints and martyrs. The same apostle,
Ephes. v. 19. recommends the singing of psalms, hymns, and
spiritual songs at festivals, it should seem after the manner of the
Scolia of the Greeks, which were not only convivial songs, and
panegyrics to deceased heroes, but hymns to the Gods. St. James
clearly distinguishes prayer from song ; chap. v. ver. 13 (&). " Is
any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him
sing psalms." And St. Paul has the same distinction, 1 Cor. xiv.
ver. 15: "I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the
understanding also : I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with
the understanding also (2)."
(c) Nisi grata esset immortalibus Diis musica, profecto, nee tibicen omnibus supplicationibus
in sacra adibus adhiberetitr. De Die Nat. c. 12.
(d) Amice, iemplo. Lib. iii. Od. 2.
(e) Et Thure & fidibus juvat placare—custodes Numida Deos. Lib. i. Od. 36.
(/) 'Soda Sacrindoium. Senn. 21.
ig) In Chrestomat. apud Photrom.
(h} Initio Libri de Monb. Germ.
(*) "And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God."
(*} *oAAer» PsaUat.
(Q ¥a\co Tea in*v/mrt, i/raA» fie jcat VOL — Psallam spiritu, psallam et mente. See likewise
Ephesians, chap v. ver. 19, and Coloss. iii. 16.
410
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Lucian speaks of the psalm-singing rage of the first Christians ;
and PHny the Younger accuses them of singing, or rather Chanting
hymns to Christ as to a God (m).
Justin Martyr, who flourished in 163, has left, in his Apology
to the emperor Antoninus Pius,* a clear and indisputable testimony
of the early use of hymns by the Christians. " Approving our-
selves grateful to God, by celebrating his praises with hymns and
other solemnities (n).'9
Upon these occasions, however, we do not find that a new species
of music was invented for the purpose of praising God, after a
manner peculiar to the Christians ; it is probable therefore that the
music of the times, and, perhaps, that of the Pagan hymns, was
adopted. Origen, in writing against Celsus, who had treated the
Christians as Barbarians, says, that " The Greeks pray in Greek,
the Romans in Latin, and other people in the language of their
countiy celebrate the praises of God to the utmost of their power."
And when Celsus observes, that " though the Pagans sing hymns
to Minerva and to Apollo, they imagine they worship the great
God." This father adds, but " We know the contrary, for we sing
hymns to none but the supreme Being, and to his only Son, in
the same manner as the Sun, Moon, Stars, and all the heavenly
host (o)."
Clemens Alexandrinus [d. c. A.D. 220] has a curious passage
alluding to the church and to religious music (p): te This is the
chosen mountain of the Lord, unlike Cithseron, which has furnished
subjects to Tragedy: It is dedicated to Truth: a mountain of
greater purity, overspread with chaste shades. — It is inhabited by
the daughters of God, the fair Lambs, who celebrate together the
venerable Orgies, collecting the chosen Choir. The singers are holy
men, their song is the hymn of the Almighty King: Virgins chant,
Angels glorify, Prophets discourse, while Music sweetly sounding is
heard (q)."
Phiio, speaking of the nocturnal assemblies of the Therapeutse,
whom Eusebius calls Christians, upon the vigils of saints, says:
" After supper their sacred songs began: when all were risen they
selected from the rest two Choirs, one of men, and one of women,
in order to celebrate some festival, and from each of these a person
of a majestic form, and well skilled in music, was chosen to lead the
(m} Quasi Deo. Lib. x. Ep. 97. What Mr. Melmoth translates a. form of Qrayer, is, in
the original, carmen. Tertullian, speaking of Pliny persecuting the Christians, ,says, that
all he accused them of was, that, besides neglecting to sacrifice, they held meetings before
day-break to sing in honour of Christ as a God. And Eusebius, in his Ecclesiastical History,
translates the complaint which Pliny made against the Christians to the emperor Adrian, thus :
-Xpiorov fitiojv ©eov iifLveLv. Christo tanquam Deo canere.
(») Gratos nos illi exhibentes rationales Pampas, et hymnos celebramus — &c.
(o) Cum hymni Minerva, & Soli canuntur, magnum Deum magis coU videri: at nos,
subdit, contra esse scimus. Hymnos enim canimus Soli summo DEO, et unigenito ejus verbo,
atque DEO ; et laudamus DEUM, e unigenitum ejus eodem modo, ac Sol, Luna, & Stella,
et tota calestis militia.
(p) Hie est mons Deo dilectiis, qui non trag&diis, &c. Admonit. ad Gentes.
(q) This is the same musical language which the Greeks and Romans used long before the
promulgation of the Gospel.
*The Apofogy for the Christians was written about A.D. 139. Justinus was bom circa
A.D. 103 and perished in the persecution under M. Antoninus, circa 165.
411
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
band. They then chanted hymns in honour of God, composed in
different measures and modulations, now singing together, and now
answering each other, by turns (r)."
This passage sufficiently proves the use of music by the primi-
tive Christians, even before churches were built, or their religion
was established by law. And Eusebius (s) in speaking of the
consecration of churches throughout the Roman dominions, in the
time of Constantine, the first Christian Emperor [A.D. 272-337],
says, " that there was one common consent in chanting forth the
praises of God : the performance of the service was exact, the rites
of the church .decent and majestic : and there was a place appointed
for those who sung psalms; youths and virgins, old men and
young/'
It is in vain to seek for any regular ritual before this period,
though St. Isidor, and, after him, all the Spanish ecclesiastical
writers, tell us positively that St. Peter first settled the order of
the mass (t); nor can I find better authority for the establishment
of music in the church during the reign of Constantine, than that
of Eusebius, who was his cotemporary, and a principal agent in
the ecclesiastical transactions of the times. And though the veracity
of this historian may in some instances have been suspected, yet
that scepticism must be excessive which will not allow the Fathers,
and even credulous Monks, to be faithful in their accounts of such
transactions as are indifferent to their cause; and when neither
their own honour nor interest can be affected by deviations from
truth. It was in the year 312 from the coming of our Saviour, that
Christianity, after the defeat of Maxentius, became the established
religion of the Roman empire. The primitive Christians, previous
to this important aera, being subject to persecution, proscription,
and martyrdom, must frequently have been reduced to silent prayer
in dens and caves.
In 313, Constantine built several sumptuous churches for the
Christian worship, and in 314, the celebration of the usual secular
games in Italy was omitted, to the great mortification of the
Pagans. From this time, to lie reign of Theodosius, a period of
near seventy years was spent in vain struggles by the zealots of
Paganism for the restoration of their ancient religion; and in
successful endeavours on the part of the Christians for the establish-
ment of their new worship, and settling the performance of its rites
and ceremonies in the most decorous and solemn manner.
It was in the time of this Emperor, about the year 384, that
the Capitoline games were abolished. A circumstance perhaps no
less fatal to the cultivation of music and poetry, than favourable
to good order and decorum. However, according to St. Chiysostom,
(r) De vita content^. All the early Greek lathers encouraged nocturnal singing of psalms
and hymns, especially on the vigils of Saints, and the eves of great festivals, on which acconnt
the custom was continued much longer in the Greek church than in the Roman. Indeed the
Mtsonyciicon, or midnight service, and the Pernoctations, are still retained in the liturgy of
that Communion. See Rites and Ceremonies of the Greek Church of Russia.
(s) Lib. «. cap. 5. (t} Marbfflon, de Liturg. Gallic, p. 5.
412
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
this Emperor used to have musicians, performers on the flute and
harp, to play to him while he was at table.
It was during this reign that the Ambroskn chant was estab-
lished in the church at Milan. St. Augustine (u) speaks of the
great delight he received in hearing the psalms and hymns sung
there at his first entrance into the church, after his conversion.
" The voices flowed in at my ears, truth was .distilled in my heart;
and the affection of piety over-flowed in sweet tears of joy." He
afterwards gives an account of the origin of singing the church
service at Milan, in the eastern manner. " The church of Milan,"
says he, " had not long before begun to practise this way of mutual
consolation and exhortation with a joint harmony of voices and
hearts."
This was about the year 386, during the persecution of the
orthodox Christians by the Empress Justina, mother to the then
young Emperor Valentinian II. in favour of the Arians. " At
this time," continues St. Augustine, " it was first ordered that
hymns and psalms should be sung after the manner of eastern
nations, that the people might not languish and pine away with a
tedious sorrow; and from that time to the present it is retained at
Milan, and imitated bv almost aU the other congregations of the
world (*)."
Music is said by some of the fathers to have drawn the Gentiles
frequently into the church through mere curiosity; who liked its
ceremonies so well, that they were baptized before their depar-
ture (y).
About this time, during the contention between the orthodox
Christians and the Arians, we find by Socrates the historian, L. vi
c. 8. that the Heretics used to sing hymns, marching through the
streets of Constantinople, in procession, with which the vulgar were
so much captivated, that the orthodox, under the .direction of St.
Chrysostom, thought it necessary to follow the example which had
been set them by their greatest enemies. Processional singing had
been long practised by the Pagans, but no mention is made of it
among the Christians before this period.
With respect to the music that was first used by the Christians,
or established in the church by the first Emperors that were con-
verted, as no specimens remain,* it is difficult to determine of what
kind it was. That some part of the sacred music of the Apostles
and their immediate successors, in Palestine and the adjacent
countries, may have been such as was used by the Hebrews,
(<0 Conf. L. ix. c. 6.
(*) St. Ambrose, to whom the establishment of this manner of singing in the western
chnrch is attributed, was made Bishop of Milan in 374, over which See he presided till the
year 398.
(y} The generality of our parochial music & not likely to produce similar effects ; being
such as would sooner drive Christians with good ears out of the church, than draw Pagans
into it.
* A hymn dating from about 169 is still used in the Byzantine Church, and a hymn with
Greek musical notation dating from the 3rd century has been discovered. The "Angelic Hymn"
(Gloria in Excelsis Deo) is also of great antiquity. There is a number of Hymns and Antiphons
dating from the latter part of the 4th century.
413
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
particularly in chanting the psalms, is probable; but it is no less
probable that the music of the hymns which were first received in
the church, wherever Paganism had prevailed, resembled that
which had been many ages used in the temple-worship of the
Greeks and Romans. Of this, the versification of those hymns
affords an indisputable proof, as it by no means resembles that of
the psalms, or of any other Hebrew poetry. And examples may
be found in all the Breviaries, Missals, and Antiphonaries, ancient
and modem, of every species of versification which has been prac-
tised by the Greek and Roman poets, particularly the Lyric; such
as the Alcmanian, Alcaic, Sapphic, &c. (z).
Father Menestrier (a) conjectures, with great appearance of
truth, that the manner of reading and singing in the church was
taken from the public theatres, which were still open when chanting
was established; and the passion of our Saviour being a kind of
tragedy, it is very probable that in singing it to the people, the
Priest imitated the melody of tragedy: whence the custom was
derived of performing the mass by different persons, and in differ-
ent tones. It is certain, at least, that the moderns have taken their
ideas of tragedy from religious mysteries (6).
As Christianity was first established in the East, which was
the residence of tie first Emperors who had embraced that faith;
and as the whole was regulated by the counsel, and under the
guidance of Greek fathers, it is natural to suppose that all the rites
and ceremonies originated there, and were afterwards adopted by
the western Christians; and St. Ambrose is not only said by St.
Augustine (c) to have brought thence the manner of singing the
hymns, and chanting the psalms which he established at Milan,
and which was afterwards called the Ambrosian chant, but Euse-
bius (d) tells us, that a regular choir and method of singing the
service was first established, and hymns use,d in the church, at
Antioch, the capital of Syria, during the time of Constantine; and
that St. Ambrose, who had long resided there, had his melodies
thence (e). These melodies, and the manner of singing them, were
continued in the church, with few alterations, till the time of
Gregory the Great.
(2} St. Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, and St. Ambrose, are said to have been the first that
composed hymns to be song in the western churches. Both these fathers flourished about
the middle of the fourth century; but Prudentius, a Christian poet, cotemporary -with
Theodosras. who died in 395, was author of most of the hymns in the Roman Breviary.
(a) Traits des Representations en Musique, Anciennes et Modernes.
(6) Dissert, sur la Recitation des Tragedies Anciens. Par 1'Abbe Vatry. Mem. des
Inscrip. torn.
(c] Confess. L. ix. c. ^. (d) L. ii. c 17.
fe) Antioch was founded by Seleucus, one of Alexander's Captains, and by him made the
capital of the Syrc-Macedonian Empire; so that it may be regarded as a Grecian city. An
order of Monks was established there in the early ages of Christianity, whose discipline obliged
them to preserve in their monastery a Perpetual psalmody, equally perennial with the vestal
fire, or perpetual lamps of antiquity Psalmody-island, in the diocese of Nismes, had its
name from a monastery founded by Corbilla, a Syrian Monk of this order, about the end of
the fourth century. This kind of psalmody is known in the Monkish writers by the name
of Laus perennis ; Gregory de Tours calls it Psalterium perpetuwn*
414
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
But besides St. Ambrose, Augustine, and Gregory, who have
all left clear testimonies of their approbation, and even cultivation,
of music in the western church, the ecclesiastical historians are
unanimous in recording the sanction that was given to it in the
East, by St. Basil, Chrysostom, and Jerom (/). And "we find
early mention, after the Christian religion was established by law,
of Chanters and Canons being appointed to officiate daily in the
church; these were called in the ecclesiastical canons Canonici,
Psalt&, and were distinct from the readers. Of their origin,
however, no certain account has been given, though there is no
doubt of their use previous to the council of Laodicea, about the
middle of the fourth century (g). But it is probable that they were
established in imitation of the Jewish temple worship, where that
was known; and in other places, remote from Palestine, perhaps
the Pagan religious ceremonies may have suggested to the Christians
these institutions.
St. Ignatius [c. 2nd cent.], who, according to Socrates (&), had
conversed with the Apostles, is generally supposed to have been
the first who suggested to the primitive Christians in the East the
method of singing psalms and hymns alternately, or in dialogue;
dividing the singers into two bands or choirs, placed on different
sides of the church. This is called Antiphona; and this custom
soon prevailed in every place where Christianity was established.
Though Theodoret in his history (*) tells us that this manner of
singing was first practised at Antioch. But for its origin, Socrates,
and several of the fathers, pretended that it was revealed to St.
Ignatius by a vision, in which he had seen choirs of angels praising
the holy Trinity in this manner by singing alternate hymns. But
Suidas, under the word XOQOS, says that "the choirs of churches
were, in the time of Constantius, the son of Constaritine the Great,
and of Flavian, Bishop of Antioch, divided into two parts, who
sung the Psalms of David alternately: a practice that began at
Antioch, and was thence dispersed into all parts of the Christian
world." Suidas may have taken this account from St. Augustine
or Theodoret; but he never names his authors. However, he
plainly assigns a much later origin to the practice than Socrates,
who gives the invention to Ignatius (&). Indeed it seems as if
the primitive Christians had had no conceptions more sublime of
the celestial employment, or joys of the blessed, than that they
were eternally singing.* The ancient hymn, Te Deum laudamus,
(/) Vide Gerbert, De Cantu et'tfusica Sacra. Vol. i. p. 31.
(g) Canonicus, a Canon, is not supposed to have any reference to canto, to sing:
Canonicus is one cut cura datum est ut canones serventur—one who takes care that divine
worship be regularly performed. And the council of Laodicea, which some suppose to have
been held in 314, and others in 319, forbids. Art. 15. all persons to sing in the church, except
the Singing-canons.
(h) L. vi. cap. 8. (t) L. ii. c. 24.
(k) Constantius reigned from 337 to. 361. -
* The later date is the one generally accepted. There does not seem to be any doubt that
Antiphonal singing was copied from Jewish Tabernacle worship.
415
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
still retained in the church, appears to have furnished the poet
Dante with a model of the 28th Canto of his Paradiso, where, under
three different hierarchies, consisting each of three choirs or
choruses, the heavenly host of Cherubim and Seraphim are singing
perpetual Hosannahs. Milton has assigned them the same
employment :
Their golden harps they took;
Harps ever tun'd, that glittering by their side
Like quivers hung, and with preamble sweet
Of charming symphony they introduce
Their sacred song, and waken raptures high;
No voice exempt, no voice but well could join
Melodious part, such concord is in Heaven (Z).
PARAD. LOST, BOOK iii.
St. Ambrose and St. Gregory having been celebrated not only
as fathers of the church, but of church music, I shall endeavour
to point out the particular obligations which sacred song had to
the genius and patronage of these pious personages.
There are few writers on ecclesiastical music who do not speak
of the Ambrosian chant, and of its being different from the
Gregorian; but no satisfactory account has been given of their
specific difference; nor was I able, in hearing the service performed
at the Duomo of Milan, or by a perusal of the Missals or other
books published in that city on the subject of Canto fermo, to
discover it, by any considerable deviation from the melodies used
in the service of other cathedrals in France or Italy, where the
Gregorian chant is said to subsist (//) . The truth is, there are no
vestiges of the Ambrosian chant remaining, sufficient to ascertain
its peculiar character. The fragments of it that Gafurio* has
(Z) Orazio Benevoli composed in the last century a mass for the cessation of the plague
at Rome, upon the same idea, for six choirs, of four parts each, the score consisting of twenty-
four different parts: it was performed in St. Peter's church, of which he was Maestro di
Capella, and the singers, amounting to more that two hundred, were arranged in different
circles of the dome; the sixth choir occupying the summit of the cupola.
(K) I applied to the late Mr. J. C. Bach, who had been some time Organist of the Duomo,
at Milan, for information on the subject; but he confessed himself unable to furnish it.
However, he undertook to write to Signer Fiorini, the Maestro di Capella of that Cathedral,
concerning the specific difference between the Ambrosian and Gregorian Chant; but the death
of Signer Fiorini preceded the answer, if not the reception of the letter. I then applied to the
learned Padre TfrTh'™', who, with his accustomed kindness and spirit of communication,
honoured me with a long letter on the subject; in which, after acknowledging that the
Cantilena Ambrosiana is, in general, the same as the Canto Romano, except in the Finals, he
has favoured me with copious extracts from a scarce book, entitled Regolo del canto fermo,
Ambrosiano dal Camilh Perego, in Milano, 1622, in 4to. The principal difference which I
can discover in these finals, from those of the Gregrorian Chant, is in the frequent use of the
favourite Greek interval, the 4th with which, the descending from the Octave of the key of C
or D, to the 5th, almost every dose is made.
* Gafori or Gafurius (1451—1522). There is a copy of the Praclica Musica (Milan 1496) in
the B.M. (K. 1. g. 3). Hawkins in his History of Music gives four chapters to a description
of the work.
416
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
inserted in his Practica Musica are very suspicious, not only as
they have a much more modern appearance than even the
ancient Gregorian chants that are come down to us, but on account
of the number of modes in which he gives them, which amount
to eight; whereas all writers on these subjects agree in saying that
St. Ambrose only used the four authentic modes, and that the
four plagal were added afterwards by St. Gregory.*
Though I shall not travel into the land of conjecture in search
of Ambrosian chants, it seems allowable to imagine, that, from
their Greek origin, they must have been constructed on the
tetrachords, by which all the melody of the ancient Greeks was
.regulated (m). And M. Rousseau has truly remarked, that there
is no more analogy between their system and ours, than between
a tetrachord and an octave.
St. Ambrose, as already related from St. Augustine, having
introduced into the western churches the method of chanting the
Psalms, in imitation of the eastern manner of singing them, no
memorable change seems to have happened in ecclesiastical music
till the year 600, about 230 years after the time of St. Ambrose,
when Gregory the Great reformed the chant.
The Greek ecclesiastics had retained the names, at least, of the
four ancient modes: the Dorian from D to d. The Phrygian
from E to e. The ^Eolian, which is improperly called the Lydian,
from F to f (n). And the Myxolidian from G to g, which they
likewise distinguished by the Greek numerical terms Protos, first .
Deuteros, second; Tritos, third; and Tetartos, fourth (o). There
was, however, no other resemblance between these modes and
Cm) See Dissert. Book I, from p. 28 to 32.
(n) The Lydian mode, as has been shewn in p. 53, and p. 95, is a whole tone above the
Phrygian; but the modern Greeks, according to the Abate Martini, place it a tone lower,
between the Dorian and the Phrygian.
(o) These terms, long retained in the Gregorian chant, seem to point out the Greek
origin of the Ecclesiastical modes ; they are still retained in the Greek Church, but after the
modes were multiplied to eight they could not with propriety be applied to those which were
originally called first, second, third, and fourth, as by the intercalation of four new modes,
they became the first, third, fifth, and seventh.
* It is traditionally asserted that St. Ambrose allowed the use of only the four authentic
modes, and that the plagal forms were banned, but there does not appear to be any justification
tor this belief.
Besides introducing Antiphonal singing into the Western Church, he was the originator of
the metrical hymn. A number of hymns attributed to St. Ambrose have come down to us,
but only a few are considered genuine, of which the following may be named: —
Dens Creator Omnium.
Aeterne Rerura Conditor.
Jam Surgit Hora Tertia.
Veni Redemptor Gentium.
Together with the Ambrosian and Gregorian music other systems such as the Gallkan and the
Mozarabic (Spanish) flourished. The Church at Milan was strong enough to resist the influence
of Rome, but the others more or less disappeared. The Galkcan music is known only by
means of the fragments which were incorporated into the main body of tie Gregorian music.
The Mozarabic Ritual existed long enough to be recorded in Neumes, but the key to the
Soanish notation which, of course, was traditional, was lost when the Grejzonan Rite was
imposed upon Spain. Recent research has demonstrated that a good deal of the Mozarajjic
music still survives in the Gregorian Chant.
In the B.M. (Add MSS. 30845 and 30851) are to be found specimens of Mozarabic Neumes
ot the loth and nth cent.
VOI,. i. 27 417
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
those of the ancient Greeks, of the same denomination, than
there would be in modern music between the keys of D, E, F, G,
minor, and the different species of octave produced by the sounds
belonging to the key of C natural, as they lie between D and d,
E and e, &c.
These four modes, which according to some ecclesiastical
writers, acquired the appellation of authentic, from their having
been selected and appointed for the service of the church of Milan
by St. Miroclet and St. Ambrose, were by St. Gregory, either for
variety, or convenience of the voice, encreased to eight, by assign-
ing to each authentic, what was denominated its plagal, that is,
according to the most probable derivation of the term, its adjunct,
or collateral, mode (p). Each of these had the same final, or
key-note, as its relative authentic, from which there is no other
.difference than that the melodies in the four authentic or principal
modes are generally confined within the compass of the eight notes
above the key-note; and those in the four plagal or relative modes,
within the compass of the eight notes below the fifth of the key.
The numeral names of the modes were now altered; the four
authentic being distinguished by the odd numbers, 1, 3, 5, 7; the
four plagal by the even numbers, 2, 4, 6, 8: but music speaks
to musicians more intelligibly with its own characters, than with
those of .any other language: I shall therefore give a short example
of each mode in Gregorian notes, which by delineating the capital
and specific feature of each, will render them recognisable when-
ever they occur (q).
Essential Sounds of the Eight Tones or Ecclesiastical Modes.
^ 0) (2) (5) (4)
Authentic, * Plapal W Authentic^" W Pfcgal
W & U_ — <6) ^ (7) . M . '
m
iSt
Authentic "W m Authentic. ^ PUgal (r)
(£) Piagalis, from irXayios, obliquus, a later*. These terms, authentic and _ _
with reason, censured by Meibomius and Bontempi, as barbarous. Bontempi proposes,
of the word authentic to substitute principal; and for plagal, relative, or collateral. These
distinctions in the Romish church are g"niiflr to the discriminations made by the Greek
musical writers where they claw their modes under the denomination of principal and
subordinate, with the distinction of hyper and hypo. See Book I, p. 60. It is not surprising
that the primitive Christians should give Greek names to the species of octaves in imitation
of the Greek modes; nor, if we reflect on the simplicity that was aimed at, and the humble
state of those who first employed music in their religious worship, shall we wonder at the
incorrect and artless manner in which it was done. How the Roman church acquired Greek
terms in Canto Fermo it is easy likewise to imagine, if we recollect that it was a present from
Greek fathers: and Gregory, in reforming the mass, not only retained these Greek terms but
adopted others, both from the Greek and Hebrew languages and ceremonies, in order to
conciliate parties and acquire converts: as Kyrie Eleison from the Greek, and Hallelujah from
the Hebrew.
($) These characters are not supposed to have been invented by St. Gregory, nor were
they in use till many ages after his time; but since their invention, having been appropriated
chiefly to the purpose of writing ecclesiastical chants in the Antiphonary of that Pontif, they
obtained the appellation of Gregorian Notes.
(r) Glareanus and Zarlino admit of twelve modes, by allowing two to each of the
seven species of octave, except B, which, for want of a true fifth, has no authentic;
and F, which having no true fourth, admits of no plagal. However, no other than the eight
modes given above are in use, as it does not appear that the four last which were proposed
by Glareanus. have been adopted in the church.
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
In the Romish Missals, Breviaries, Antiphonaries, and Graduals,
only four lines are used in the notation of the chants; with
two clefs, the base tenor, or those of F and C, which are removable;
and two kinds of notes, the square and the lozenge; the first for
long syllables, and the second for short. In some modern French
Missals a third species of note is used, generally at a close; this is
square with a tail added to it, and is of longer duration than either
of the other two. However, the Italians seldom use any other
than square notes in their Canto Fenno, nor did the French, in their
more ancient books.
The only accident allowable in Canto Fenno is a fiat to B,
which is removed by a fcj. No character of $ occurs in genuine
chants of high antiquity. The first and second modes are frequently
transported into A, a fifth higher. In some modern Missals a fiat
is placed at the clef upon B, for the fifth and sixth modes; but the
strict adherents to antiquity murmur at this licence, and rather
chuse to impoverish the melody, by making a fourth of the key a
noli me tangere, than admit this innovation. As it is, no one scale
or key of the eight ecclesiastical modes is complete: for the first
and second of these modes being regarded, according to the modern
rules of modulation, in the key of D minor, want a flat upon B;
the third and fourth modes having their termination in E, want a
sharp upon F; the fifth and sixth modes being in F, want a flat
upon B; and the seventh and eighth generally beginning and ending
in G major, want an F sharp.
Such are the outlines and general rules of the ecclesiastical
modes and Canto Fenno; there are indeed peculiarities and
exceptions to most of them; but as the book is designed chiefly for
the perusal of my countrymen, who have little curiosity, and no
use for these modes, it seems unnecessary to enter minutely into a
discussion of their anomalies.
Ecclesiastical writers seem unanimous in allowing that it was
the learned and active Pope Gregory the Great, who collected the
musical fragments of such ancient hymns and psalms as the first
fathers of the church had approved, and recommended to the
primitive Christians; and that he selected, methodized, and
arranged them in the order which was long continued at Rome,
and soon adopted by the chief part of the western church (s).
The anonymous author of his life, published by Canisius, speaks
of this transaction in the following words: " This Pontif composed,
arranged, and constituted the Antiphonarium and chants used in
the morning and evening service (t)."
(s) Gregory began his Pontificate in 590.
(t) Fleury in his Hist. Eccl. torn. viii. p. 150, gives *a circumstantial account of the
Scola Cantontm, instituted by St. Gregory. It subsisted three hundred .years after the death
of that Pentif, which happened in 604, as we are informed by .John Diaconus, author of his
life. The original Antiphonarium of this Pope was then subsisting; and the whip with which
he used to threaten to scourge the boys; as well as the bed on which he reclined in the
latter part of his life, when he visited the school in order to hear them practise. Two colleges
were appropriated to these studies; one near the church of St. Peter, and one near that of
St. John Lateran; both of which were endowed with lands,
419
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Arnold Wion cites many writers of the middle ages, such as
Walafred, Berno, Radulph, and Sigebert, who not only speak of
a singing school founded by him at Rome, but tell us that he
banished from the church the Canto Figurato as too light and
dissolute; and that his own chant was called Canto Fermo from
its gravity and simplicity (u). This Pope is likewise said by
ecclesiastical writers, to have been the first that separated the
chanters from the regular clergy; observing that singers were more
admired for their fine voices than for their precepts or their piety.
It is imagined that St. Gregory was rather a compiler than a
composer of ecclesiastical chants, as music had been established in
the church long before his Pontificate; and John Diaconus, in his
life (x), calls his collection Antiphonarium Centonem, the ground-
work of which was the ancient Greek chant, upon the principles of
which it was formed.* This is the opinion of the Abbe Lebeuf (y),
and of many others. The derivation is respectable ; but if the
Romans in the time of St. Ambrose had any music, it must have
been composed upon the Greek system : all the arts of Rome, during
the time of the Emperors, were Greek, and chiefly cultivated by
(«) It is not easy to conceive how the Canto Figurato, if it meant florid song, as at
present, could gain admission into the church, when plainness and simplicity were most
likely to be encouraged by its rulers, or even how it could have existence during the first
ages of Christianity; for the syllabic and metrical music only, seem to have been used in the
temples, and even theatres of the Pagans. Meibomius indeed has inserted, in his preface to
the seven ancient Greek writers on music, Te Deum Laudamus, set, in the opinion of this
learned critic, to nearly the same chant as was nsed to that hymn in the time of St. Ambrose
and St. Augustine, its supposed authors, and expressed in such a notation as would have been
then used; but I cannot help thinking this chant corrupted by graces of more modern times,
as three notes frequently, and sometimes even four and five, are applied to one syllable, which
destroy the prosody of the language; a licence which would not have been tolerated by the
ancients. But in tracing the use of the word figuratus, when applied by the ancient
ecclesiastical writers to Cantus, it does not seem to have the same acceptation as at present,
that is, giving more than one note to a syllable: Du Cange gives the following example of its
use in the middle ages : in eodem saccello missam de B. Virgins in figurative quotidie decantari
suis sumptibus ordinavit. "He ordered a mass to be daily sung with notes in the same chapel
at his own expence." An old French poet, speaking of the celebration of the mass on the
feast of St. Magloire in 1315, by the Bishops of Laon and Lagonne, together with the Abbots
of St. Germain, St. Geaevieve, and St. Dennis, says they sung
T/ Allelujah mout hautement,
Et bien, et mesureement.
which is a manifest distinction from chanting. In Zarllno's sense of the word figurato, the
ancients, in their vocal music, admitted of no other Canto. And it is the Canto Fermo itself,
that is incompatible with metrical music. Zarlino, Instit. Harm, prirna part. cap. 8 expressly
designs Canto Figurato to be Canto Misurato: a measured melody, in which notes, that is —
"figure" position— of different lengths were used; in opposition to Canto Fermo, in which the
notes were all of a length, as in our psalmody; or at least of no stated measure, as in our
cathedral service. Buontempi says the same, p. 199. 12 Canto Figurato acquistossi I'Epiteto
Figurato dalle vane figure (notes) che vi s'introducevano. This removes the difficulty, and
makes it probable, that by sayjng Gregory _ banished the Canto Figurato, it was only implied
that he banished rhythmic singing, as too lively; he would not let verse be sung, or perhaps
would not let it be sung as verse, because it was gay and paganish.
(#) Lib. ii. cap 6.
(y) Traite Historique et Pratique sur le Chant Ecclesiastiquc. Chap. Hi.
* It is difficult to fix with any degree of certainty St. Gregory's share in the compilation
of the great collection of music known as Gregorian music. That he had some part in this
work is generally admitted.
Gregorian music may be divided into: —
(1) Music of the Mass (with Baptism and gin"Tar services);
(2) Music of the Hours of Divine Service.
The music of the mass consists of over 600 compositions and that for the Hours of about 2,000
Antiphqns and 800 Greater Responds, besides music for the Versides and Lesser Responds.
It is certain that music schools existed at Rome long before the time of Gregory. It is
said that a school for the training of choristers was formed by St. Sylvester in the 4th century
and one was certainly established by St. Hilarius in the 5th cent. During the regime of Pope
Pelagins (577-90) a school was established near the Lateran Basilica, which afterwards came
under the protection of St. Gregory, who used it for supplying various churches with trained
singers. . . ."'...
420
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Greek artists ; and we hear of no musical system in use among the
Romans, or at least none is mentioned by their writers on the art,
but that of the Greeks. .
It has been long a received opinion that the ecclesiastical tones
were taken from the reformed modes of Ptolemy ; but it is difficult
to discover any connection between them except in their name ; for
their number, upon examination, is not the same, those of Ptolemy
being seven, the ecclesiastical eight. And indeed the Greek names
given to the ecclesiastical modes, do not agree with those of Ptolemy
in the single instance of key, but with those of higher antiquity (z).
It seems, however, as if some idea of the genealogy of the
ecclesiastical modes, and their deviation from more ancient Music
might be acquired, by supposing that the pious fathers, who intro-
duced the use of music first in the churches, would naturally make
it as simple as possible, to avoid the reproach of contaminating the
Christian service with Pagan Lenocinia (a). For the same reason,
therefore, as they rejected all but the Diatonic genus, they likewise
rejected all the variety and complication of modes and transported
systems, with their difficulties of execution. They took the
Hypodorian mode, or natural scale of A, allowing the variety of B
flat, occasionally, with the change from the disjunct to the conjunct
system which was in every mode, and the different species of octave
which every mode also admitted. All this was ready to their hands.
That they called them Modes or Tones was not surprising, consider-
ing them to have been a part of the ancient modes or tonif though
not the whole: they ended like the old modes upon different finals,
and were at different pitches, though in the same scale. And indeed,
besides the effects of transposition by adopting parts only of each
species for their chants, and not the whole, they made them really
different keys to the ear, as in the following examples :
(6).
Steculorum A men.
**M«'*MMi« II Final ».
"^
E V O V A E (e).
(3) See p. 59 & seq. vol. i.
(A St Jerom in his commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians, ch. v. ver. xp, p. 632.
"Speaking to ' y^u^lves in psalmVand hymns, and spiritnal songs smgmg and mai^g
melodvio T your heart to the Lord," cries out. Avdumt hac adolescentuh: audtant hi ambus
ffalkndiinecclesia officium est. Deo no* voce, sed cord* cantandum: nee in Tragcedorutn
modum £tturet fauces dulci medicamine colliniendas, ut in ecclesia tkeatrales moduli
audiantur et cantica, sed in tiniore, in opere, in scientia scnpturarum.
(W Uediatio implies the middle of a chant, or the sound ^V^^Sr ^SLS'i
of a verse in the Psalms. The punctuation of the Psalms m the Enghsh Psalter, where a
colon is constancy placed in the middle of a verse, and frequently when *e sense reqmres
not ?o long a pause, expresses this Mediatio, or breathing-place, marked out for those who
chant the Psalms in the cathedral service.
(c) EVOVAE are the vowels, and, in Canto Fermo, the representation of the two last
words, in the Gloria Patri. Seculorum Amen.
fa postponed to the next verse; this usually happens m our double chants.
421
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
for these two fragments of genuine plain-song in the nrst mode,
give true ideas of modulation into two distinct ke}?s; the first in
F with a major third, and the second in D minor (e).
It might be expected that some better traces of the music, that
so much delighted the Greeks and Romans, would be found in the
Canto Fermo of the church ; but if we reflect upon the manner in
which the Christian religion was established, such expectations will
vanish. The Roman empire having from the beginning opposed and
persecuted the proselytes to this new doctrine, its rites were
celebrated only in caves and deserts, without pomp and splendor.
Its first protectors were the princes of new-founded monarchies,
barbarians whom the mild and benevolent doctrines of Christianity,
by degrees, rendered less savage and ferocious. On this account,
and from the horror with which the followers of the new religion
beheld the dissolute manners of the Pagans, the fathers of the
church declaimed bitterly against public spectacles, in which
the ancient music was still practised ; and to adopt into the
church theatrical melodies would have been a scandal and mortal
sin: nor, perhaps, did the Pagans themselves use them in their
temples. Besides, the new Christians, being chiefly illiterate, and
of mean rank, would hardly have been capable of executing the
refined and difficult music of the theatre, which was usually per-
formed by skilful and eminent professors. Thus vanished entirely
the idea of Greek and Roman secular music, with the knowledge of
the Greek characters, now become useless, as nothing remained to
be expressed by them but simple sounds, such as were common to
Christians and Barbarians.
(e} The Abbe Lebeuf, who has examined and compared the Canto Fermo of the several
ages of the church with great diligence and sagacity, is of opinion, that there is a strong
resemblance in the transitions from one key to another in that, and in the ancient Greek
music: the Greeks more frequently modulated from the key note to its fifth below, than to
the firth above, see Book I. p. 64. This is discoverable in the fragments of their music that
are come down to us. See Dissert, sect. vii. as well as in the precepts of their Theorists. It is
the same in the ancient chants of the church. Bb commonly occurs in a melody that begins
in the key of C or A; which implies a modulation into F or D, the fifth below each of these
keys: but no F& which would indicate a transition into the fifth above, is discoverable.
Indeed, sometimes in the key of F the B is made natural, which leads to C, the fifth above;
however, such transitions are very uncommon in this, as well as in the Greek music.
The terminations, or closes of Greek Melodies, and ecclesiastical chants, have likewise a
great similitude, though they differ so much from those of modern music. In this last, the
dose is on the key note, in the Greek it is on the third; at least such is the Final of the airs
to which the reader is referred : and in the Canto Fermo, one of the most common closes is
in the third of the tone or mode in which the chant begins. The want of a sharp seventh
to several of the modes furnishes another resemblance, in the rising from the flat seventh to
the key note at a dose; this occurs several times in the fragments, especially in the Ode of
Pindar, Dissert, sect viL Another similitude is discoverable in the frequent interruption of
the Diatonic progression by leaps of thirds, as in St. Ambrose's Te Deum
and in the ecclesiastical intonations
» U * » °,a ^ **•
Mersennus was also struck with the same resemblance: speaking of the Greek melodies he
says, ; they plainly appear, from the fragments remaining, to have been," Smpticibus tonotum
eccUsutsUeorum cemtibus . . . Otnnino Similes. H^rmfflBTKb. vii.
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
After the conversion of the Emperors, when the Christian
religion was established by law, theatres, and all kinds of public
spectacles being discouraged, and, by degrees, suppressed, many
of the princes themselves regarding them with horror ; the simple,
artless, and insipid psalmody of the primitive Christians was con-
tinued, though magnificent churches were built ; and ecclesiastical
rites, in other respects, were celebrated with every allurement which
could captivate the vulgar, and render its ceremonies pleasing to
the senses.
Though the original melodies used in the Antiphonary, which
includes the chants of the Graduate in the Mass, the Responses,
Lessons, and Antiphonaries that accompany the Psalms, were
adopted in the church at different times, but reformed and digested
by St. Gregory; yet they bear evident marks of the age when they
were insensibly received in the church : language was beginning to
lose the distinctions of long and short syllables, especially in chant-
ing ; in which there was little variety of notes, either as to length or
modulation (/), for the vocal organs of the new Christians not having
been accustomed to a refined and artificial music, could not easily
form the semitones, nor execute a variety of passages; on which
account a change of key seldom happens in Canto Fermo, and
words are sung to long notes of nearly equal value. For want of
semitones, cadences are made from the flat seventh rising a whole
tone, in the same manner as among the Canadians and other savage
people. There was no need of great musicians to invent, or
superior beings to inspire such melody as this ; the priests them-
selves, who regulated the public worship, might have formed it by
mere instinct, as it so much resembles that of a rude and uncivilized
people (g).
At present, however, this kind of singing is become venerable
from its antiquity, and the use to which it is solely appropriated :
and its simplicity, and total difference from secular music, pre-
cludes levity in the composition, and licentiousness in the
performance. As to the want of variety with respect to modulation,
such as are much accustomed to the ecclesiastical tones, pretend
that a very different effect is produced to the ear by these different
species of octave, even though the idea of the key be not changed :
and it must be allowed that these tones, which seem all to belong
(/) The variety of ~~ ° , or long and short syllables, expressed by square and lozenge
notes, Is a modern attempt, only observed in the French printed Missals; the ancient MSS.
and even modern printed books of Canto Fermo in Italy, have no such distinctions. All notes
are, in general, equally square and Gothic ; but whether round or square, their length is the
same. Le note del Canto Fermo si cantano tutte in ttn'istcssa misnra, doe tante valeuna quanta
Valtra, o sia tonda, o quandra. Breve Instruttione alii Giovani per imparare il Canto Fermo.
del Gios. Mar. Stella. In Roma, 1675.
fe) Vide Eximenp, p. 394. 395. Dell' Origine & delle Regole delta Musica in Roma, 1774.
This author, who writes with a strength and eloquence that are seldom found in musical
treatises, seems to have expressed himself with too much violence in supposing, that when
music was first admitted into the church, the use of rhythm and prosody began to be
neglected, because the new languages* then forming from barbarous dialects, and Latin in
pronounced, paid no regard to either: but they have never been lost in the T^ffo language,
anH in all Roman Catholic churches the service has ever been performed in T^tm. la rhanttTig
the Psalms indeed there is no fixed distinction of long and short syllables; but this confusion
could not have reached the Latin language at the time of St. Gregory.
423
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
to one key and scale, do admit the variety of minor and major,
as was before observed.
There is a curious chapter in the Micrologus of Guido, which
has for title De Tropis & vi Musical in which he attributes all
imaginable difference of character and effect to the species ;of
octave, or ecclesiastical tones, for he speaks of no other tropi;
ascribing garrulity to one; voluptuousness to another; sweetness to
a third, &c.
M. Rousseau, Art. Plain Chant, says, that the " Christians
having introduced singing into their religious worship, at a time
when music was very much degenerated, deprived the art of the
chief force and energy which it had still retained, by a total,
inattention to rhythm and metre, and by transferring it from
poetry, with which it had always been connected, to the prose
of the sacred writings, and to a barbarous kind of verse, worse
for music than prose itself. Then one of its two constituent parts
vanished, and the melody being uniformly dragged without any
kind of measure, in notes of nearly equal lengths, lost, by being
deprived of rhythm and cadence, all the energy which it received
from them (K). Hence plain song degenerated into a psalmody
always monotonous, and often ridiculous; and yet such of these
melodies as have been faithfully preserved, notwithstanding the
losses they have sustained, afford real judges valuable specimens
of ancient music and its modes, though without measure and
rhythm, and merely in the Diatonic genus, which can only be
said to be preserved in all its purity in Canto Fermo. These
modes, in the manner they have been retained in the ancient
ecclesiastical chants, have still a beauty of character, and a variety
of expression, which intelligent hearers, free from prejudice, will
discover though formed upon a system different from that in present
Notwithstanding the imperfection of the scales, and little
variety of keys in the ecclesiastical chants, secular music seems for
many ages to have no other rules, but to have been strictly
confined to a few keys in the Diatonic genus, without the liberty
of transpositions. Hence came the timorous pedantry of excluding
all other keys and scales but those used in the church; which
kept every kind of melody meagre and insipid, and in subjection
to the rules of ecclesiastical chanting. For it appears, that the
only major keys used in Canto Fermo, are C and its two fifths
F and G; and the only minor keys A, E, and D. And in four
(&) In the Canto Fermo of the Romish church, as in our cathedral chanting, some syllables
are sung so slow, and others prononnced with snch rapidity, that both verse and prose are
equally injured; and yet, the first Reformers of the church thought chanting to be too light
and like common singing; and that there would be more reverence and solemnity in making
every syllable of equal length and importance; a practice which k still continuedin
parochial psalmody.
*That this belief with regard tp Plain Song is not only an i8th cent one is shown by
^tSS^^^^1^?^ J!L!^y*^lno^iTI^.<*Ilt mttsfckns- The following extract from
a letter written by Mendelssohn to Lady Wallace is typical.
"I can't help it, bat I own it does irritate me to hear such holy and touching words
song io such dufi, drawling music. «<«*»
424
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
of these keys the scale is deficient, as there is no seventh or
note-sensible to G, A, or D. This accounts for so small a number
of the twenty-four keys which the general system, and scale of
modern music furnishes, having been used by the old composers;
as well as for the temperament of the organs by which these modes
are afterwards accompanied. And as all music in parts seems,
for many ages after the first attempts at counterpoint, to have
been composed for the service of religion upon Canto Fermo and
its principles; it likewise accounts for the long infancy and child-
hood of the art, till it broke loose from the trammels of the church,
and mounted the stage as a secular amusement.*
If imperfection in one place be perfection in another, let a
mutilated scale be a meritorious characteristic only in the church;
for on the stage and in the chamber, where zeal and gravity give
no assistance to the composition or performance, every refinement
and artifice are requisite to stimulate attention, and captivate the
hearer. Let all the sharps, and six of the seven single flats be
excommunicated; let them have no admission within the pale of the
church; but let them not be cut oif from all society elsewhere,
or the anathema be extended beyond its limits.
But even so late as the present century this barbarism has
had its partizans : for the late Dr. Pepusch was desirous of restor-
ing music by the revival of these ecclesiastical scales, to its original
imperfection, and has given rules (i) for composing in all keys
without flats and sharps, in imitation, it should seem, of the
Lipogrammatists of antiquity, who wrote long poems without the
admission of a particular letter. The restrictions and mysteries
of ^ancient modes are luckily abandoned in secular music, like the
vain distinctions and occult qualities of the Aristotelian philosophy
in the schools.
From Che time of St. Gregory to ffchat of Guido,** there was no
other distinction of keys than that of Authentic and Plagal; nor
were any semitones used but those from E to F, B to C, and,
occasionally, A to Bj;. But, at present, if the greatest master of
modern harmony, with the most fertile genius for melody, were to
torture his brain in order to compose in all the keys without the
use of other sounds than those of the Diatonic scale of C natural;
when, with the most unwearied labour and determined persever-
ance he had extracted the essence of these modes, and formed it
into an elaborate composition, he would still have much more
difficulty in finding lovers of music with dulness and patience
sufficient to hear it performed, than he had in producing it.
The passages already cited from the fathers only manifest their
approbation of music, but neither teU us of what kind it was, nor
whether a regular ecclesiastical chant was universally established.
(0 See Treatise of Harmony, and vol. i. p. 449.
* It would be difficult to find anyone, even the most devoted admirer of operatic music,
to agree with this opinion.
** That is from the 6th to the nth cent.
425
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
It seems, however, as if the Liturgy was not settled by Canons, nor
a uniformity of chanting ordained till the time of St. Gregory,
though we find a very early distinction made between the manner
of singing the hymns, and chanting the psalms. St. Athanasius,
and Geronticus, a Monk of Alexandria, and many of the fathers of
the fourth century, have left testimonies and admonitions concern-
ing this distinction (&). It is, however, the opinion of the learned
Padre Martini, to which the Prince Abbot of St. Blasius subscribes,
that the music of the first five or six ages of the church, consisted
chiefly in a plain and simple chant of unisons and octaves, of which
many fragments are still remaining in the Canto Fermo of the
Romish missals. For, with respect to music in parts, as it does not
appear, in these early ages, that either the Greeks or Romans were
in possession of harmony or counterpoint, it is in vain to seek it in
the church. Indeed, for many ages after the establishment of
Christianity, there is not the slightest trace of it to be found in the
MS. Missals, Rituals, Graduals, Psalters, and Antiphonaria of any
of the great libraries in Europe, which have been visited and con-
sulted expressly with a view to the ascertaining this point of musical
history.
After the most diligent enquiry concerning the time when
instrumental music had admission into the ecclesiastical service,
there is reason to conclude, that, before the reign of Constantine,
as the converts to the Christian religion were subject to frequent
persecution and disturbance in their devotion, the use of instru-
ments could hardly have been allowed: and by all that can be
collected from the writings of the primitive Christians, they seem
never to have been admitted. But after the full establishment of
Christianity, as the national religion of the whole Roman empire,
they were used in great festivals, in imitation of the Hebrews, as
weU as Pagans, who, at all times, had accompanied their psains,
hymns, and religious rites, with instrumental music.
The proofs for, and against, the early admission of musical
instruments in the service of religion before this period, are so
numerous, that to give them all, and discuss the point, would be
an endless labour to the reader and to myself. The two following
passages, however, from fathers of the church, seem conclusive as to
the private use, at least, of instrumental music in the service of
religion, before the time of Constantine, as well as its public
admission into the church during the reign of that Emperor.
Clemens Alexandrinus (Q says, " Though we no longer worship
God with the clamour of military instruments, such as the trumpet,
drum, and fife, but with peaceful words ; this is our most delightful
festivity ; and if you are able to accompany your voices with the
lyre or cithara, you will incur no censure (at)/' And afterwards, he
. {£} It seems as if the chief distinction was, that the hymns were frequently sung by
angle persons, and the psalms generally chanted in a chorus of the whole congregation.
(8 Lib. ii. cap. 4. Pedagogi.
»-j^ £?" wpo* "^P*" «**XW* yXvpav aS«v TC teat. ^aXXetv jua/ios owe «rriy. Suizerus, The*.
Ecct. v. 'Qpavov.
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
says: "Ye shall imitate the just Hebrew King, whose actions were
acceptable to God." He then quotes the Royal Psalmist: "Rejoice
ye righteous, in the Lord — praise becomes the just, — praise ye the
Lord on the Cithara and on the Psaltery with ten strings/*
Eusebius, in his Commentary on the Sixtieth Psalm, mentions
these instruments. He, likewise, in his Exposition of the Ninety-
second Psalm, says, "When they (the Christians) are met, they act
as the Psalm prescribes : First, they confess their sins to the Lord.
Secondly, they sing to his name, not only with the voice, but upon
an instrument of ten strings, and upon the Cithara."
Instruments, however, seem not to have had admission indis-
criminately in the early ages of the church ; the Harp and Psaltry
only, as the most grave and majestic instruments of the time were
preferred to all others. Neither Jews nor Gentiles were imitated in
the use of Tabrets and Cymbals in the Temple service. The priests
of Bacchus and Cybele, in their public processions and celebrations
of religious rites, had rendered these instruments so odious to the
Christians, that all the Fathers were very severe and peremptory in
prohibiting their use (n).
Though modern ecclesiastical writers dissemble or deny the use
of Dancing in the religious ceremonies of the church, yet the
numerous anathemas against it, in the works of the Fathers, are
sufficient proofs that it had been practise*! among the primitive
Christians, as well as the Hebrews and Pagans. The following
passage from St. Augustine's eighth sermon, not only proves that
the early Christians made dancing a part of their Sunday's amuse-
ment, but puts it out of all doubt that the primitive and pious
believers accompanied their sacred songs with instruments. " It
is better to dig or to plough on the Lord's Day, than to dance.
Instead of singing psalms to the Lyre or Psaltry, as virgins and
matrons were wont to do, they now waste their time in dancing, and
even employ masters in that art."
Father Menestrier (o), after speaking of the religious dances of
the Hebrews and Pagans, observes that the name of Choir is still
retained in our churches for that part of a cathedral where the
Canons and Priests sing and perform the ceremonies of religion (p).
The choir was formerly separated from the altar, and elevated in the
form of a theatre, enclosed on all sides with a balustrade. It had
a pulpit on each side, in which the epistle and gospel were sung, as
may still be seen at Rome in the churches of St. Clement and
(n) According to Jamblicus, De vita Pythag. lib. £. cap. 25, these instruments were
forbidden by the Samian Sage to be used by his disciples, to whom he only allowed the
lyre.
(o) Des Ballets, Anc. et Mod. A Paris 1682, p. 12, ef seq.
(£) The word comes from x°po?, a dance, or a company of dancers. The derivation is
remarkable, and not one of those that can be suspected of proceeding from fancy, and
accidental similitude of sound. One of the acceptations of the term xopo? given by Suidas, is
a company of singers in a church; that is, a choir. It seems likewise to have been sometimes
used, like our word choir, in the local sense : xopos says S«ufosKattoxopcTmuKai6roiro?&c. that
fer dancers, and the place in which they danced. It is so used by Homer, Od. viii. 260.
$e x°P°v~— They made smooth, or level, the place appointed for dancing.
427
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
St. Pancratius, the only two that remain in this antique form. Spain,
continues he, has preserved in the church, and in solemn procession,
the use of dancing to this day ; and has theatric representations
made expressly for great festivals, which are called Autos Sacra-
mentales* France seems to have had the same custom till the
twelfth century, when Odo, Bishop of Paris, in his synodical
constitutions, expressly orders the Priests of his diocese to abolish
it in the church, cemeteries, and public processions (q). The same
author, however, in his Preface, informs us, that he himself had
seen, in some churches, the Canons, on Easter Sunday, take the
choristers by the hand, and dance in the choir, while hymns of
jubilation were performing.
M. Tournefort, in his travels through Greece, remarks, that the
Greek church had retained, and taken into their present worship,
many ancient Pagan rites, particularly that of carrying and dancing
about the images of the saints, in fheir processions, to singing and
music (r).
But the union of acting, dancing, and singing, will hereafter be
shewn to have been allowed in the church, when the first Oratorios
or sacred dramas, were performed there.
Some remains of this dancing spirit is still observable in the
service of the Romish church, the priests continuing in motion
during the whole celebration of the mass. Mr. Hume, in his
account of the ceremonies used by Archbishop Laud, at the conse-
cration of St. Catherine's church (5), tells us, that this prelate,
who was a great venerator of ancient rites, and desirous of reviving
the religious observances of the Catholics, " As he approached the
Communion-Table, made many lowly reverences; and coining up
to that part of the table where the bread and wine lay, he bowed
seven times. After reading many prayers, he approached the
sacramental elements, and gently lifted up the corner of the napkin
in which the bread was laid. When he beheld the bread, he
suddenly let fall the napkin, flew back a step or two, bowed three
several times towards the bread; then he drew near again, and
opened the napkin, and bowed as before." — He did the same by
the cup in which was the wine. — If this is not leaping and jump-
ing, as in common dancing, it amounts at least to such a degree
of gesticulation as the ancient Romans comprehended under the
term Saltatio.
Having furnished incontestible proofs of the early use of music,
both vocal and instrumental, in the church, its Notation seems a
subject of enquiry not unworthy the curiosity of musical readers.
(q) Constitut. 36.
(r} Tournefort, let. iii. 44.
(s) Hist, of Great Britain, vol. I. p. 200. ist edit 4to.
*For accounts of Spanish religious processions, etc., see articles by J. B. Trend in
"Music and Letters."
Vol. i, p. 145, The Mystery of Elche.
Vol. 2, p. 10. The Dance of the Seises at Seville.
VoL 10, No. 2, The Mystery of the Sybil Cassandra.
428
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Not only the Greek appellatives for the musical scale were in
use during the time of Boethius, who died in 526, but the same
kind of notation, by letters of the alphabet, in different forms and
position, which he has applied to the Diagram in his Fourth Book,
chap. iii. (t).
Boethius [c. 475 — c. 524], in his chapter on Notation, says,
that as his division of strings into concords will give a genealogy of
the necessary sounds in the three genera, it becomes necessary for
him to describe musical notes, that the name of every one may be
known by those signs. " The ancient musicians/1 says he, " in-
vented and published certain symbols of sounds by which the name
of every string was known, and of these there was a different series
for each genus and mode, in order to avoid the repetition of the
original and entire name of each sound in the system. In this
summary manner, a musician, who wished to write a melody to
verses, placed over the rythmical composition of metre these signs:
so that by this invention, not only the words of the verses, which
are formed of letters, but also the melody itself, which is expressed
by the like signs, might be transmitted to posterity. Of these
modes we will speak, of the Lydian, and its signs in the three
genera. — " (u) He says nothing, in this chapter, of a Roman Nota-
tion; but tells us that he adheres to the Grecian, " as it is his chief
care not to turn any thing out of the course of antiquity: there
will be two rows of characters," says he, " the higher for the
words, and the lower for the instrument that accompanies the
singer: " he there defines the characters in his Diagram, which
consists of those to be found in Alypius, for the Lydian mode, and
which have been explained in the Dissertation, page 30 and page
38, in decyphering the melodies to the Greek hymns.
Upon the whole it seems as if Boethius only used Roman letters
as mere marks of reference in the divisions of the monochord, not
as musical ndtes or characters; indeed, at the end of chap. xvi.
book iv. he says, sit bisdiapason consonantia hcec, let the letters
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, 0, P, represent the con-
cords in double octave. But these letters coincide with our scale
only accidentally, which is manifest from the promiscuous use of
them throughout the work, where A, for example, frequently
happens to represent hypate hypaton, which corresponds with our
B on the second line in the base.
And in book v. chap. xiii. he uses the letters R and X; and
throughout, the Roman letters cannot, from the context, be
regarded as the musical characters in common use, since Boethius,
(*) Some account of this celebrated musical writer, and his Tract, has been given, p. 375.
note (»); and in this I shaH bestow a few words on his chapter concerning Notation; in which
though the title promises an exhibition of Greek and Roman musical characters, yet only the
Greek are explained, nor does a single Roman letter occur for a musical note, in the course
of the whole chapter; the title of which, Musicarum per Grescas et Latinos literas Notarum
Nuncupatio, is justly condemned and exploded by Meibomius, who, has prefixed a correct
copy of it to his edition of Alypius, where he observes that the words ac Latinos are not
to be found in the Selden MS. of Boethius, who only mentions the Greek alphabetic notes.
(«) Boethius, as well as every other Latin writer on music, thought it necessary to
encumber his Treatise with definitions and calculations of the intervals in all the genera.
though the practice of the chromatic and enharmonic was wholly unknown to the Romans.
4*9
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
in his chapter on Notation, never mentions their^ being received
as such, nor tells us that they were of one or two kinds, as he does
of the Greek (x).
It seems, therefore, certain at least that the Roman letters were
not used as musical characters during the time of Boethius, in
whose Treatise no traces of them are to be found; but that such a
notation had been adopted between the time of this author and St.
Gregory, who, according to the unanimous suffrage of posterior
writers on the subject of Ecclesiastical Chanting, reduced their
number from fifteen to seven; which, by being repeated in three
different forms, furnished a notation for three octaves; the gravest
of which he expressed by capitals, the mean by minuscules, and the
highest by double letters, thus: which in modern notes would
constitute the following scale.
r?5 —
-» f— fc
• i
> — m •. w
7t — r-
WT
B
k-»
A
P
IM:
r
n P
F
=y
c
i — + U m
d b <
d e \ a
y -
J a*, bb.
a'd, ee.
ff, oa
And these letters are still retained in most parts of Europe, as
denominations of musical sounds, though a different entablature
and notation is used in practice.* The solmization ascribed to
Guido, however, was long preferred to this more precise and intel-
ligible musical alphabet, which, at present, seems likely to become
universal.
Mabfllon (y) says, that before the ninth century letters were
used for notes in Canto Fermo; and, about the middle of the ninth
century, Agobard, Archbishop of Lyons, collected, as he tells us
himself (z), into one book, all the several chants, as they were sung
throughout the year, in his own church, under the title of Anti-
phonarium. This passage seems to imply a musical notation in
common use at this time, at least in France; but whether it was that
of the letters of the Roman alphabet which St. Gregory is supposed
to have first adopted, instead of the endless perplexities of the
Greek notation, is uncertain.
In all the MSS. of the Micrologus of Guido, written two
centuries after [c. 1025], alphabetic notes are used in the following
manner; which are explained in Gregorian notes.
(x\ I cannot quit Boethius without observing that his tract on Music, which, to read, was
long thought necessary to the obtaining a musical degree in our universities; and which, with
great parade, has been so frequently praised, quoted, and pronounced, by writers on that art,
to be of the greatest importance to every musician, contains nothing but matters of mere
speculation and theory, translated from Greek writers of higher antiquity; which, if necessary
to be known at this time, would be more profitably studied in the original: but the theory
of every art being vain and useless, unless it guide and facilitate practice, the definitions,
calculations, and reveries of Boethius, are no more useful or essential to a modern musician,
than Newton's Principle, to a dancer.
{y} Annal. Benedict, torn iv. Append. No. vii. p. 632.
(z\ Agobard, de Divina Psalmodia. Biblioth. pp. cit. torn. xiv. p. 321.
* It does not appear likely that Gregory invented this, or indeed any form of Notation. A
contemporary of his, one Isidore, states that in his day there was no way of recording music
and that "unless sounds are retained in the memory they perish, for they cannot be
written down.
430
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
d c k} c d e dc fciakjcdaGFGG
Sit nomen Domini benedictum in ssecula. (a) .
^JHB-I** »m m^m** ^ ===t
These letters had sometimes linear ligatures, of which a curious
specimen is given by Padre Martini (&), from an ancient MS. of
Guido, in the possession of that diligent historian.
-mundt,
***
***
QUI TOL-. .--..- US PEC..-V-CA.TA MUNDI MISE ....... RE -.-
. - RE NO BIS
Besides the improvement in alphabetic notation, the invention
of other kinds of notes has been attributed to St. Gregory: these
consisted of lengthened points, placed at different elevations, over
each syllable of the words that were intended to be sung in his
Antiphonarium. Whether this expedient was first suggested by
Gregory, or by succeeding transcribers of his Ritual, is uncertain.
Eckehard, Jun. (c) seems to think that he only used the literal
notation: for, speaking of Peter, one of the singers sent into
France by Pope Adrian, at the request of Charlemagne, he says,
that " this chanter first superseded the use of alphabetic characters
by certain notes (d) placed over words that were to be sung; which
Notker Balbulus afterwards explained to a friend (e)"*
The Gregorian Chant seems to have been expressed by notes
different from the letters of the alphabet, if not by Pope Gregory
himself, at least very soon after the death of that Pontiff. The
Monk of Angoul£me, author of the Life of Charlemagne, anno
787, says, that " The Antiphonarium of Gregory was written by
himself in Roman notes', and that all the chanters of France
learned the Roman, now called the French note." One of these
notes, says Du Cange, was placed over each syllable (/).
(a) From a MS. of Guido in the Laurenzinian Library, at Florence.
(6) Storia della Musica, torn. i. p. 178.
(c) De casibus Sancti Galli, cap. 4. (d) Notulis.
(e) This work of Notkerus is still extant in the fifth vol. of Antiq. Lect. Canisii, part
u. P- 739-
(/) Gloss, ad. Script. Med. et Inf. Latini.
* Balbulus=ih& stammerer. A monk of St. Gall who died in 912. His works on music
were reprinted by Gerbert (Scriptores, Vol. i). There is in the National Library at Vienna
(Codex 184) an example of St. Gallen neumes which are written alongside and not over the
text.
The earliest examples of Neums are in the Codex Amiatimtts, which dates from about
A.D. 716.
431
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
There is a beautiful MS. Psalter in the Library of Bennet Coll
Cambridge, supposed to have been brought from Rome by Austii
the Monk, in the time of Pope Gregory. I had formed hopes
that in this some kind of notation would be found, but none
appears. In the seventh chapter of the Statute Book of Aix Iz
Chapelle, in the year 879, and in that of Charlemagne (g), it is
however, ordained, that " notes, chants, and grammar, should be
taught in every monastery7 and Diocese.'7
Lines began to be used in the tenth century, as appears frorr
an ancient manuscript treatise on Music, by Odo the Monk,81
written about the year 920 (h). These were eight or nine k
number. At first, the syllables of the psalm or hymn, that was
to be sung, were placed in the spaces between these lines, thus:
J
/K\
fit
. TR?S SEMPITERNUS / \
A.
N-x
>P
/ , £SX \U\
&
TU^ / TRiS SEMPITERNUS/ \
N.
r*
r^ \»x
JV}
/ \u
V
9
1U US
TU PATRIS
SEMPITERNUS
ES Fl
After this an alphabetic character was placed at the beginning
of each line; capitals for the grave sounds, and minuscules for
the acute; as may be seen in the following specimen from a MS.
of Guido's Epistle to the Monk of Pomposo, in the Laurenzinian
library at Florence, and in the British Museum, No. 3199, in
which the melody is written in five different keys.
(g) Lib. L cap. Ixviii. and lib vi. cap. 277.
(K) Triihem. de Scnptorib. Eccles. N. 292.
(*) These eight lateral characters, or ciphers, imply the eight tones of the church, D, E.
F, G, authentic, and plagal; the small letters t, and s, tone and semitone. Of the repetition
of syllables over each other, an account -will be given in the next chapter.
* It is probable that this treatise was -written by Otger or Odo of Tornieres who was also
known as Roger or Noger.
The Musica Enckiriadis and the Scholia Enckiiiadis formerly attributed to Hucbald or
Hubaldos are now believed to be the work of Otger.
432
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
TRIS SEMPITERNUS
TRIS SEMPJTERNUS
TRIS SEMPITERNOS
TRIS SEMPITERNUS
TRIS SEMPITERNUS
TU PATRIS SEMPITERNUS
To this kind of notation succeed Points, a scale formed of
which is given from a tract written by the great musical Monk
Hubaldus (&), who flourished about the year 880.* The MS. is
•
tt
• «
o
TO
SE
TO
TO
SE
TO
TO
SE
TO
TO
SE
TO
TO
w
- (K) Enchiridion Musicee authors Uchubaldo, Francigena.
. P Thi!, exajnpte robs Guido of the glory of having invented Points, however double
points, or Counterpoint, may belong to. him; but this claim will be discussed in the next
chapter; and it is but just to observe here, that the above species of notation seems never
to have been in general use.
* Hucbald was born about 840 and died in 930. The only work which is now ascribed
to him is De harmonica Institutions.
The Musica Enchiriadis is now thought to have been written by Otger of Tornieres. See
Hucbald. s echte und unechte Schnften, by Hans Muller (Leipzig 1884) with regard to the
authorship of these works.
Voi,. i. 28
433
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
still subsisting in the Malatesta Library of the Minor Conventual
Fathers at Cevena, and in that of the King of France at Paris,
No. 7202, of which last I procured a copy.
The three following examples of ancient notations by points,
are given from P. Martini, torn. i. p. 184, in which only one line
is used to ascertain the predominant sound of the chant: a red
line for the clef F, and a yellow one for that of C. This seems
to have been the first time that a line was drawn through notes
of the same elevation, and the origin of clefs; which are only
Gothic letters corrupted or disfigured.
» -^ -*
I/f-
ufqbfoaaut
Po pa ti //it
us quidfe ci aut
d& rt ixm a ntmee cV«p friAwfir ti t i
(m) From a fragment of an ancient Missal written about the year 900, which is preserved
in the archives of the cathedral at Modena.
(*) From an ancient mfssal in the possession of P. Martini. Guido, in the prologue to
his Antipkonarium, speaks of this kind of notation, where the zed line implies the clef of F,
and the yellow that of C.
Quasdam lineas signamus vaxiis coloribus
Ut quo loco, qoi sit sonus, mox discernat ocolns;
Ordine tertiae voces splendens crocus radiat.
Sezta ejus. sed affinfs flavo rnbet minio.
(o) From an ancient
434
MUSIC BSf THE CHURCH
Vincenzio Galilei (p) says, that a little before the time of Guido
the points were placed on seven lines, only, without using ^the
spaces; perhaps in imitation of the seven strings of the ancient
lyre:
The same writer has exhibited, in a specimen of this notation,
an example of very ancient Roman melody, concerning the
authenticity of which he had not the least doubt, as it was com-
municated to him, he says, by a Florentine gentleman, who had
found it in an extreme ancient MS. of the most perfect preservation
of any that he had ever seen. It is not indeed of so exquisite
a kind as to make us lament the loss of such music; though the
disposition of those who could be pleased with it may have been
to them a great blessing.
CLANGET HOD1 • E VOX NOSTRA MELODUM SYMPHONI - A
INSTANT
ANNUA
JAM
QUIA
PRAECLARA
SOLEMNIA. &c (q)
CLANGET HODIE VOX NOSTRA MEU
ANNUA
JAM QUIA PRAECLARA
&c.
(£) Dial della Mus. Anti. e Moder. p. 36.
(q) It was from these Points being placed over each other hi the first, notation of music
in dSferent parts, that the term Contrapunctum, Counterpoint, had its origin.
435
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
&r &&*&
X
^^/y.^
_
&^ ' ^'^^v^ '
•« s > p»
, r / A
auf*jM
f b
nC fcq;
.
«>Cuv^ixf Ct^if omAUtr
**• »v
.V. *i
*'x?
I \
s ^
^ ? v- 2 ^
?
? V-
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Few, however, of these methods of notation seem to have
been generally received in cotemporary Missals, after the Greek
characters were disused; for in the MS. specimens which I have
seen, the marks placed over the words, in the middle ages,
previous to the time of Guido, often appear arbitrary, and to
have been adopted only in some particular church, convent, or
fraternity.
Points were first used simple, afterwards with tails; sometimes
detached, sometimes confluent; and sometimes united and dis-
torted like hieroglyphics. I collected examples of this notation
in the Ambrosian library at Milan, in the Vatican at Rome, at
Antwerp, and in the libraries and convents of several other cities
on the Continent: many of which are, indeed, unintelligible at
present to the most learned librarians and antiquaries I consulted.
Of these I shall, however, give specimens, more to convince the
reader of the rude state of music in these barbarous ages, than to
display its beauties, or my own sagacity in deciphering the
characters.
A few examples of such music will perhaps suffice to enquirers
reasonably curious in Gothic antiquities; and, indeed, such as can
be decyphered may comfort the reader of taste for the unintelligible
state of the rest. The history of barbarians can furnish but small
pleasure or profit to an enlightened and polished people: and the
ecclesiastical chants of the early and middle ages of Christianity,
have no other constituent part of good music than that of moving in
some of the intervals belonging to the Diatonic scale; nor do any
stronger marks of selection and design appear in them, than might
be expected in a melody formed by a fortuitous concourse of
musical sounds. And, indeed, these chants bear nearly the same
proportion to a marked and elegant melody, as a discourse drawn
from Swift's Laputan Mill would do with one written by a Locke
or a Johnson.
The characters, however, in the last two specimens are not
arbitraiy marks, or signs of single sounds; but, like those used
in some ancient Greek Missals, of which an account will be given
hereafter, expressed different inflexions of voice, for which, in
modern notation, several characters would be required. As lines
seem first to have been used for the purpose of ascertaining the
clef, and to intersect such notes as were of the same elevation, it
would not be difficult to discover the melody intended to be
expressed by these characters in ancient Missals, if their force was
known, and their situation determined by lines drawn through
them.
437
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The appellations given to these characters were, in general,
barbarous, though some of them seem intended, by their form, as
well as import, to delineate the motion of the voice (r).
They seem, before lines were applied to them, to have been
in general use from the ninth to the fourteenth century; as they are
not only to be found in the MSS. above mentioned, but in innu-
merable others which are still preserved in the several libraries
and convents of Europe, whence Walther has given specimens in
his Lexicon Diplomaticum; and in these MSS. they differ no more
than letters in the hand-writing of individuals of the same age
and nation. In many of them particular words at the end of a
verse or sentence, have groups of notes given to them, which, in
modern musical language, would be called .divisions. Some of
these appear in the fragment from the Ambrosian MS.; and Walther
(Tab. VI.) has deciphered a chant of the eleventh century, in which
the second syllable of the verb sanantur has a volata, or flight of
notes, set to it, consisting of near seventy different sounds.
The same diligent and ingenious antiquary has likewise
ascertained the notation of a MS. of the twelfth century, by
drawing lines through the characters, Tab. XII. and elsewhere
has not only given proofs of this species of notation having
been in use till the 14th century, but exhibited (Tab. XXIV.)
an explanation of the singing-clefs and musical notes of the
middle ages, with which I shall present my readers, in order to
enable the studious in musical antiquities, to decipher the
characters used in the Canto Fermo of the middle ages, wherever
they shall find them, previous to the use of lines, Gregorian notes,
or flie invention of a time-table.
And as the learned abbot of St. Blasius (s) has given in his second
vol. a plate of the metrical accents and characters for inflexions of
voice used about this time, amounting to forty, with their several
names underneath, in Hexameter verse, I shall also insert a copy of
this plate [pp. 440-1], as it will furnish appellations to the
musical characters which Walther explains, and point out the
meaning of others, which occur in both Latin and Greek Missals of
the ages anterior to Guido, and the use of lines. Some of
these characters, as their names imply, are grammatical, some
metrical, some representatives of musical sounds, and others,
(r } The names of ten of the musical notes used in the middle ages occur in two Latin
verses given by Dn Cange, in his Glossary, from Theogeras, Bishop of Metz, apud Bernardum
Pcz. torn. i. Anccd. Preejai. p. 15. under the article HeUaphonos. P ^rnaraum
Is (Chnstos) in cevum sit benedictus.
Hcptapkonos, strofikictts, pv.nctus, porrectus. oriscus,
\irgula, cepkahcas, chnis, quilisma, podacus.
And the forms of some of them are likewise preserved in a MS. Latin tract on music supposed
to have been written in the twelfth century, which I saw in the JesS's^oIlege at™twem^2
Present State oj Music m Germany, &c. vol. i. p. 32 and 48, first edit. John BcrttorTtteTutho?
of this tract who * supposed to be an Engfishman, speaking of the differentials of toe
intonations ofjhe Psalms says: Tawus neumandi modus a Guidone invmtus. Hie sit per virgas.
cUpes. quilismata, punctt, podatus, ceterasque hujusmondi notulas suo ordine dispostas.
(s) De Canto et Musica Sacra,, p. 59, and pi. X. No. 2.
43*
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
perhaps, were appropriated to the graces or embellishments which
were then used in melody.*
But, it may be easily imagined, while these notes were used
without lines to ascertain their exact situation, that they must have
been very uncertain guides ; and the author of the Antwerp MS.
already mentioned, in speaking of these characters, as Neuma,
which was a term applied to divisions upon a single vowel at the
end of a psalm or anthem, as a recapitulation of the whole chant,
justly observes, that " these irregular signs must be productive of
more error than science, as they were often so carelessly and
promiscuously placed, that while one was singing a semitone or a
fourth, another would sing a third or a fifth (t).'9
It may easily be imagined, that neither this nor any other
notation could instantaneously become general ; improvements in
arts long remain local in every age and country ; and it is natural to
suppose that the charactejrs in question were long unknown, or of
but small use, in some parts of Europe, while they were received
and successfully practised in others.
Though the most ancient melodies used in the church may have
been adopted from the pagan Greeks, it seems as if they had been at
first retained by memory, and handed down to distant ages by
tradition ; for no monuments remain, either in the Eastern or
Western church, of music written in characters similar to those in
Alypius, or of the Greek hymns inserted in the Dissertation prefixed
to this work. For though Meibomius has set such notes to Te Deum
Laudamus, in his preface to the seven ancient Greek writers on
music, yet he does not pretend to have found them in that form in
any MS. of antiquity ; his sole design in applying them to this
venerable chant, being to shew how perfect a master he was of the
ancient Greek notation.
The schism between the Greek and Latin churches, which
happened in the ninth century, prevented such changes as were made
in the Roman Ritual, after that period, from being adopted ; and the
notation used before, seems long to have been continued in the
Greek church. In Russia, however, all the Rituals were called
in at the beginning of the last century ; and a uniform liturgy was
established, in which the modern method of writing music was
received. But in the Greek isles a notation peculiar to its
inhabitants is still in use, which is not only as different from ours
as their alphabet, but totally unlike that in the ancient Missals.
In examining the most ancient of these in the Vatican library
which were written in capitals, the first notation I could
discover consisted chiefly of accents; and when small letters were
afterwards ussd, these accents were only somewhat lengthened.
(t) Qualiter autem ista irregulares neum& errorem pocitts quant scientiam generent, in
virgulis & dinibus, atque podatis considerari Per facile est: quandoquidem & equaliter omnes
disponuntur et nullus elevations vel depositions modus Per eas exprimitur. Unde fit ut
unusquisque tales neumas pro Itbitu suo exaltet aut deprimat, ut ubi tu semitonium vel
diatessaron sonas, alius ibidem ditonum vel diapente faciat. Cap. 21.
*A chart shewing the growth of the Neumes will be found in Grove's (Article: Notation:
Vol. 3, PP. 648-9).
439
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
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A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
In the tenth and eleventh centuries, they very much resemble the
characters to be found in contemporary Latin Missals. However,
the melodies in the lower ages became more elaborate, and the
notes more numerous than in those of higher antiquity,
St. John Damascenus, who lived in the eighth century [c. 700-
754] , is celebrated by the writers of his life, and by ecclesiastical
historians, as the compiler and reformer of chants in the Greek
church, in the same manner as St. Gregory in the Roman. And
Leo AHatius (u) under the title Octoechus (x), tells us, they were
composed by J. Damascenus. Zarlino goes still farther, and
informs us, (y) that in the first ages of Christianity, the ancient
Greek notation by letters having been thrown aside, John Damas-
cenus invented new characters, which he accommodated to the
Greek ecclesiastical tones; and that these characters did not, like
our's, merely express single sounds, but all the intervals used in
melody : as a semitone, tone, third minor, third major, &c. ascend-
ing and descending, with their different duration. This resembles,
in many particulars, the notation, just exhibited from the ecclesias-
tical books of the Romish church, before the time-table and charac-
ters in present use were invented, or, at least, generally received.
The Abate Martini of Venice, with whose friendship I was
honoured when I visited that city in 1770 (z), having visited the
Greek isles in hopes of acquiring such a knowledge of the music
practised there at present, as would enable him to judge, whether
any of the miraculous powers attributed to it by their ancient
inhabitants still remained, as well as to compare its excellence with
that of his own country; and as this learned and sagacious enquirer
confided to me his papers on that subject, this seems the time to
communicate to my readers a sketch of iheir contents.
The system of modem Greek musical notation, according to
the Abate Martini, seems much more complicated and obscure than
the ancient. The characters convey nothing to the mind either
by their form or names, the greatest part of which cannot be con-
strued; and the rest are construed to no purpose. Their significa-
tion, as words, does not point out their meaning, as musical
characters; and all that I can discover is, that some of them seem
descriptive of gesticulations ; such as ovavtopa, which, perhaps,
directed the priest to look up, or stretch his hands towards heaven.
OravQos, which might direct him to make the sign of the cross, or
to carry the cross. Avytopa), flexio, contortio. Indeed, it is said in
the papers^ that some of these characters are for the Xecgo/ua, or
Legerdemain, and not &a <f^v^v9 for the voice. This is the more
likely, as the Greek service abounds in gesticulations and manual
dexterity.
The Abate was informed, that though the oriental Greeks have
signs for musical sounds equivalent to ours, they sing more by
(*) De Ubris Eccles. Grcecorum, (#) OKTWIJX<*: Eight Tones.
(y) Instil. Harm. 4**. Porte, caff. viii.
(*) See Present State of Music in France and Italy, p. 154. first edit.
44*
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
tradition than science. However, the distinctions for the duration
of sounds, such as our time-table furnishes, are still wanting. The
Abate procured an extract from a tract upon the music of the
modern Greeks, written by Lampadarius; but who he was, or when
he lived, no one could inform him. In this it appears, that the
characters amount to more than fifty; among which, most oi the
names of those musical terms given by Du Cange, from a MS.
treatise on the ecclesiastical music of the Greeks are to be found (a).
To insert these here, and endeavour to explain them, wfll
perhaps be conferring but a small favour on my readers; for from
the scarcity of music written in such characters, so few will be
their opportunities of making use of any knowledge they may
acquire by the study of them, that it would be like learning a dead
language in which there are no books, or a living language without
the hope of either reading or conversing in it.
I shall, however, for the gratification of the curious in these
matters, exhibit here fourteen musical characters which occur in
Greek MSS. of the Evangelists, written in capitals during the
seventh, eighth, arxd ninth centuries, though, at present, they are
wholly unintelligible, even to the Greeks themselves. I have
already observed that the more ancient the MSS. the fewer and
more simple are the notes: the Codex Alexandrinus, in the British
Museum, has none; and the Evangelisteria MSS. in the Harleian
Collection, 5785, 5598, both of the tenth century, have only such
as these, which were copied in Greece by the Abate Martini.
The Codex Ephrem. in the King's library at Paris, of the fifth
century, has likewise the same kind of musical notes; and it is
assigned as a reason for the Codex Alexandrinus not having them,
that it was written for private use, not for the service of the church.
Kircher (&) undertakes to give his reader an idea of modern
Greek Music and its characters; and has indeed collected a great
number of notes and their names, but pretends not to furnish
(a] Gloss. Med. et Inf. Gracitatis. Du Cange, who has so amply collected and explained
the characters used by the modern Greeks in chymistry, botany, astronomy, and other arts
and sciences, is silent as to their musical notation; nor have I been able to acquire any
information on that subject, except what the Abate Martini has supplied me with. The title
of the Treatise, by Lampadarius, is the following. Tex^oAoyia TTJ? /lowi/nj? rexv^s The extract
from it, which is in my possession, is too long for insertion here; nor would it be of much
use could I allow it room, as no equivalents to the Greek characters are given in our own
notation. But with respect to the author, I find among the memorandums which I made
m the King of Sardinia's library at Turin, an account of a Greek MS. of the fifteenth century,
No. 353. 0. I. 24- m which Lampadarius is often mentioned as author of the music to the
hymns and prayers it contains. Fabricius, likewise, Bibl. Graec. vol. iip. 369, 564, and 586,
speaks of a MS. in the Selden Collection at Oxford, and another in the Jesuits library at
Louyain, in which there are explanations of the notes used by the modern Greeks, and
musical compositions by several authors, particularly Lampadarii4s. In the patriarchal church
of Constantinople, there are four singers, who are placed on the right and left sides oi the
choir: the first on the right hand is called npwro^aXnjs, the principal singer; the first on the
left Aajwra&xptos, Lampadarius; the two others who assist the principals are called Domestici.
It is probable that Lampadarius, who flourished about the year 1300, either took his name from
the office he filled; or, on account of his eminence in music, that his name was given to
the office.
(6) Musurgia, Tom. i. p. 72.
443
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
equivalents in the music of the western world. And to insert such
barbarous names, and more barbarous characters here without
explanation, would no more help to initiate a student in the mys-
teries of Greek music, than the Hebrew or Chinese alphabet. At
the first glance they very much resemble the characters used in
CUoregraphy, an art invented about two hundred years ago to
delineate the figures and steps of dances. They are too numerous
and complicated to be all inserted and explained here; however, to
the following, as they most frequently occur, I shall give the names,
and correspondent notes in our own music, by the study of which
the musical reader would be able to form some idea of the melody
they are intended to express.
There are eight ascending and six descending characters, some
for single sounds, and others for wider intervals, as thirds and
fifths, such as Zarlino, in the passage mentioned above, had
imagined were invented by J. Damascenus; and all these have their
particular Chironomia, or signs for the gestures with which the
priest is to accompany the inflections of voice.
t__ toov. The beginning, or first note of every chant, is called
Ison, which is equivalent to the key or tone in which any melody
is sung.
Ascending Notes.
Sfcxy (e), ..... id est exigua <J: ff n
- acuta -iJ: -~
- ...... levitas
or TO WEAoffSov (*) - volatil
stimulus
*£ &5o xEtotpurrg, ..--..- duo stimuli
£pi^
sasy, has reso
W) Perhaps irerao-t?. («) veranrrov.
(c) Klrcher, to whom even Egyptian hieroglyphics axe easy, has resolved the names
of these Greek notes into Latin. Ifusnrg. ubi supra.
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Descending Notes.
apostrophus ffi' ^ ~
el Swo 'Aff oV$«$«, .... duo apostrophi vfr-^
ro
stimulus d
• •
icnuxioms ;|J.j|:JB,,.)g_^
vagum UL-—-
rR^e
n> i
temperans
The octaves to all these sounds are expressed by different
characters.
The Abate Martini heard the Greeks, in Passion Week, sing
several tropes or modes, which they now term foot, in four parts,
in the style of Palestrina ; and this kind of music they call Cretan,
but why, is not easy to divine, unless they learned counterpoint while
the Venetians were masters of the island (/).
The Abate says, that he often heard the common people of
Greece sing in concert, and observed that they made frequent use
of the fourth ; della consonanza die noi chiamiamo oggi quarta.
By this he must mean that he used it as a concord in two parts, or
if there were more than two parts, in positions where our harmony
forbids the use of it ; otherwise it would not have affected his ear
as a singularity.
The fact is curious ; and I find it confirmed by Zarlino, who
observed the same practice in the Greek church at Venice.
The fourth we shall find was in such favour during the time of
Guido, as to be preferred in descant to every other concord,
and thought to constitute the most pleasing harmony. This
partiality may probably have arisen from the importance of
fourths in the ancient Greek system, and the want of a tempera-
ment to render thirds and sixths more agreeable; but the improve-
ments in harmony soon brought it into disgrace in Italy, while,
from a contrary cause it has kept its ground to the present time
ffl The Venetians were in possession of Crete, or Candia, from the beginning of the
thirteenth centar? tffl 1669, wherTthey were driven thence by the Turks, after a siege of
more than twenty years.
445
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
in Greece, at least among the populace. And indeed, even in
Italy, it seems to have retained a part of its ancient privileges
long after the time of Guido, and when harmony was thought to
be in great perfection: for Zarlino says, that Jusquin, and the
other old Flemish masters, used it frequently in their composi-
tions: netta parte grave, senza aggiungerte altro intervallo (g).
The present state of Greek music, indeed, does not confirm or
favour the opinion of Dr. Brown, who asserts, with his usual
courage (A), that " about four hundred years after Guido, the
debauched art once more passed over into Italy from Greece:
certain Greeks, who escaped from the taking of Constantinople,
brought a refined and enervate species of music to Rome, &c."
As many travellers assert that the modern Greeks have no music
in parts, we may suppose, that in those places where it was heard
by the Abate Martini, it had been brought thither by the Venetians,
during the time that they had possessions in the Archipelago.
That the Greek music has undergone many alterations since
the ancient treatises that are come down to us were written, is
certain from the change and increase of its vocabulary. Bryennius
(i) has given, as names of intervals, a list of barbarous terms not
to be found in any preceding writer within my knowledge; and in
the Greek Glossary of Du Cange, and the Abate Martini's papers,
a great number occur that are not to be found either in writers of
high antiquity, or in Bryennius (k).
The technical language of the Greeks has always been copious,
and in music perhaps its seeming redundance is more conspicuous
than in any other art or science. But in other arts and sciences
Words are representatives of Things existing; whereas, in
denominating the tones and inflexions of voice, which to realize,
require new creation, there can be no correspondence between
the type and substance. The colours, the forms, and objects,
which a painter wishes to represent, are in nature; and the poet,
in all the ebullition of wild enthusiasm and fervid imagination,
describes what he has seen and felt, or what is to be seen and
felt, and for which common language must supply him with
symbols. But it has never entered the thoughts of man to give
names to all the minute shades of colour between black and white,
or to the gradations by which light is propagated between the
time of total darkness and the sun's meridian. And yet, in a
scale of sounds, from the lowest musical tone in the human voice
to the highest, where octaves are not represented by similar signs
fg) Instil. Harm, p. 152. and Dim. Harm. p. 88.
CW Dissert, on Music and Poetry, p. 209. (j) Lib. iii. sect 3
&** introduced ni chinch inoac, to exclude the Pagan titles of Dorian,
446
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
and appellatives, the names and characters must be numerous.
The lines and clefs of the European music have certainly freed it
from many perplexities with which it was embarrassed, even in the
artless times of Canto Fenno.
But however flowery the Greeks may have made their
ecclesiastical melody, or however they have multiplied its characters,
the desire of permanence in the heads of the Western church, with
respect to all sacred matters, long kept music in the plain and
simple state in which it was left by Pope Gregory the Great; for
we do not find, till the invention of counterpoint, that it received
any material change or improvement. Our own Bible and liturgy,
if they remain in their present state five or six hundred years,
will, perhaps, be unintelligible to the vulgar, though written in the
best language of this country when they were introduced into the
church. And the Greek and Roman languages, which were so
well understood by the primitive Christians, became dead and
obsolete by degrees, to all but the learned in after-ages. The
preclusion of change or innovation in sacred concerns which has
occasioned permanence, has likewise been the cause of inelegance
and obscurity.
But I shall now quit the subject of church music among the
Greeks and Romans, and close this chapter with an account of its
establishment in England and France.
It is the opinion of Bishop Stillingfleet (/) that St. Paul himself
visited this island, and that the Gospel was propagated here
during the time of the Apostles. He speaks of Dioclesian's perse-
cution [A.D. 303]; of its being stopt by Constantius; and of the
flourishing state of the British church under Constantine. He
treats likewise of the great antiquity of episcopal government here;
of the ancient endowment of churches, even before the time of
Constantine, and of the privileges granted by that Prince. He
gives an account of the schools of learning established here by
Germanus and Lupus, early in the fifth century; of the public
service of the British church; and of the difference between the
Gallican and Roman service. But the part of his work, which
more immediately concerns the present enquiries, is his account of
the arrival of Augustine the Monk in England; and what he says
of the manner of performing the mass by the early Christians, and
of the superiority of the ancient Roman church music over that
of all the other Western churches. I shall not however croud my
pages with long quotations from a work of which so many copies
are disseminated throughout the island; but content myself, and,
I hope, my readers, with merely pointing it otit to their perusal.
We learn from Venerable Bede, and from William of Malms-
bury, that Austin the Monk, commonly called the English apostle,
who was sent from Rome by Pope Gregory the Great, to convert
the Saxons, instructed them in ecclesiastical music.
(I) Origines Britannic*. 1685.
447
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The account which Bede gives (m) of the conversion of the
Saxons in 596, being inserted in all the histories of this country,
it does not seem necessary to give it a place here. However,
there are a few circumstances in this narration, which are too
much connected with the establishment of music in the English
church to be omitted. Bede tells us, that when Austin, and
the companions of his mission, had their first audience of King
Ethelbert in the isle of Thanet, they approached him in procession
singing Litanies; and that, afterwards, when they entered the city
of Canterbury, they sung a Litany, and at the end of it, Allelujah.
But though this was the first time the Anglo-Saxons had
heard the Gregorian Chant, yet Bede likewise telk us (n), that
our British ancestors had been instructed in the rites and cere-
monies of the Gallican Church by St. Germanus, and heard him
sing Alleluja many years before the arrival of St. Austin.*
Several letters, which passed between that Pontiff and him,
during his mission, are still extant. He was the first Archbishop
of Canterbury. " The principal difference," says Bishop StilHng-
fleet (o), " between the Roman and Gallic Ritual, which the
Britons had adopted before the arrival of Austin, was in the
Church Music, in which the Romans were thought to excel other
western churches so far, that the goodness of their music was the
principal incitement to the introduction of their offices."
Milton relates, from the Saxon annals, that in the fourth year
of the reign of Egbert, 668,** by means of Theodore, a learned
Monk of Tarsus in Greece, whom Pope Vitalian had ordained
Archbishop of Canterbury, the Greek and Latin tongues, with
several liberal arts, as arithmetic, music, astronomy, and the like,
began first to flourish among the Saxons (p).
Venerable Bede was himself an able musician, and is supposed
to have been the author of a short musical tract, De Musica
Theorica, et Practica, sue Mensurata (q). Of the two parts of this
Treatise ascribed to Bede, the first may have been written by him ;
the second, however, is manifestly the work of a much more modern
author ; for we find in it, not only the mention of music in two or
three different parts, under the name of Discant, but of instruments
never mentioned in writers cotemporary with Bede ; such as the
organ, viole, atola, &c. A notation too of much later times appears
here, in which the long, the breve, and semibreve are used, and
these upon five lines and spaces, with equivalent rests and pauses.
The word modus is also used for time, in the sense to which the
(>») Eccles. Hist. lib. i. cap. 25. („) Libt it capt ^
(03 Orig. Brit. p. 237. fo) Milton's Hist, of Engi. b. iv. p. 65.
(q) Vide Edit. Coll. 1688, voL i. p. 344.
** ** W kn°W Mm" St Angnsthie' was «* to England in 597 by Pope
44S
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
term mood was applied after it ceased to mean key. Upon the
whole it seems as if this last part of the tract attributed to Bede, was
written about the twelfth century ; that is, between the time of Guido
and John de Muris.*
Bede, however, informs us (r) that, in 680, John, Praecentor of
St. Peter's in Rome, who was sent over by Pope Agatho to instruct
the Monks of Weremouth in the art of singing, and particularly to
acquaint them with the manner of performing the festival services
throughout the year, according to that which was practised at
Rome. And such was the reputation of his skill, that "the masters
of music from all the other monasteries of the North came to hear
him ; and prevailed on him to open schools for teaching music in
other places of the kingdom of Northumberland."
These are marks of grace and modesty which our neighbours the
French could not boast, even in such early times of ignorance and
simplicity. For we have, from cotemporary writers, the relation
of a serious quarrel between Gallic and Roman musicians, so early
as the time of Pope Adrian and Charlemagne, concerning superiority
of taste and knowledge ; a quarrel which has been since often
renewed, but which, had it been left to the reference of unprejudiced
and intelligent judges of other nations, would have been soon
determined without ever coming to a second trial or combat. The
French, however, after every defeat, revive with still greater clamour
their pretensions to a Titular Sovereignty, without having the least
claim to it, either from inheritance, conquest, or former possession.
The story of this ancient musical quarrel is somewhat long, but
the necessity of inserting it here at full length seems the greater, as
it not only shews the antiquity of the ridiculous rivalry and hatred
still subsisting between French and Italian musicians, but is a con-
vincing proof that the English were not the only people obliged to
the Romans for the method of chanting the Psalms, and singing
the Hymns in their cathedral service. Musical missionaries were
sent, at this time, from Rome to other parts of Europe, to instruct
the converts to the Gospel in the church service ; which accounts
for that similarity and almost identity of melody, observable in the
sacred music of all the countries of Europe at the time of the
Reformation, till when, little other music was known or practised
than that of the church.
"The most pious Bang Charles having returned to celebrate
Easter at Rome, with the Apostolic Lord, a great quarrel ensued,
during the festival, between the Roman and Gallic singers. The
French pretended to sing better, and more agreeably, than the
Italians : and the Italians, on the contrary, regarding themselves
as more learned in Ecclesiastical Music, which they had been taught
by St. Gregory, accused their competitors of corrupting, disfiguring,
Vit. Abbot. Wiremoth, 6- Eccles. Hist. Ub. iv. cap. 18.
is now thought to have been the work of a izth cent,
e.
Voi,. i. 29 449
* It is now thought to have been the work of a xzth cent, writer known as the Pseudo-
Aristotle.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
and spoiling the true chant. The dispute being brought before our
sovereign Lord the King, the French, thinking themselves sure of
his countenance and support, insulted the Roman singers; who, on
their part, emboldened by superior knowledge, and comparing the
musical abilities of their great master, St. Gregory, with the ignor-
ance and rusticity of their rivals, treated them as fools and
barbarians. As their altercation was not likely to come to a speedy
issue, the most pious King Charles asked his chantors, which they
thought to be the purest and best water, that which was drawn from
the source, at the fountain-head, or that, which, after being mixed
with turbid and muddy rivulets, was found at a great distance from
the original spring? They cried out, unanimously, that all water
must be most pure at its source ; upon which, our Lord the King
said, Mount ye then up to the pure fountain of St. Gregory, whose
chant ye have manifestly corrupted. After this, our Lord the King
applied to Pope Adrian for singing masters, to correct the Gallican
Chant, and the Pope appointed for that purpose Theodore and
Benedict, two chantors of great learning and abilities, who hacl been
instructed by St. Gregory himself: he likewise granted to him
Antiphonaria, or Choral Books of that Saint, which he had written
himself in Roman notes. Our Lord the King, at his return to
France, sent one of the two singers, granted to him by the Pope, to
Metz, and the other to Soissons; commanding all the singing
masters of his kingdom to correct their Antiphonaria, and to con-
form in all respects to the Roman manner of performing the church
service. Thus were the French Antiphonaria corrected, which had
before been vitiated, interpolated, and abridged, at the pleasure of
every Choir-man ; and all the chantors of France learned from the
Romans that chant which they now call the French Chant. But as
for the beats, trills, shakes, and accents of the Italians, the French
were never able to execute or express them; nor, for want of sufficient
flexibility in the organ of voice, were they capable of imitating, in
these graces, any thing but the tremulous and gutteral noise of
goats (s). The principal school of singing was established at Metz,
and in the same proportion as the Roman chant exceeded that of
this city, the singers of Metz surpassed all those of other French
schools. The Roman chantors likewise instructed those of French
in the art of Organizing (t); and our sovereign Lord Charles having,
besides, brought with hini into France masters in grammar and
arithmetic, ordered those arts to be cultivated throughout his
(s) Ckeurotter, et jar tma tosse di copra, are expressions applied in France and Italy to
such singers as have a bad shake.
John Diaconus, in his Life of St. Gregory, gives in queer and barbarous Latin, scarcely
to be translated, a curious account of the vocal abilities of the ancient Germans and French,
who, in attempting to sing the Gregorian Chant, were wholly unable to express its sweetness;
" injuring it by barbarous changes, suggested either by their natural ferocity ox inconstancy
of disposition. Their figures were gigantic, and when they sung it was rather thunder than
musical tones. Their rude throats, instead of the inflexions of pleasing melody, formed such
rough sounds, as resembled the noise of the cart jolting down a pair of stairs."— Vita S. Greg,
cap. S.
(?) Arte Organandt. This term will be explained in the next chapter.
450
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
dominions ; for, before the reign of the said Lord the King, the
liberal arts were neglected in France (u)."
Among the Anglo-Saxon Benedictines, who contributed to the
establishment of the Gregorian Chant in this island, was Benedict
Biscop, the preceptor of Venerable Bede ; who, having been fiv£
times at Rome, and well received by Pope Agatho, acquired a perfect
knowledge in the monastic rules, the Choir Song, and all ecclesi-
astical rites. His disciple Bede, who wrote his Life, informs us,
that it was chiefly from him that the Roman Chant was so well
known in the monasteries of his founding in the Bishoprick of
Durham, Girwy, and Weremouth ; in the last of which Bede ended
his days (x).
Adrian, Stephen, Monk of Canterbury ; Friar James, and many
others, are celebrated by Bede for their skill in singing after the
Roman manner. It was then the custom for the clergy to travel to
Rome for improvement in music, as well as to import masters of
that art from the Roman college. At length the successors of St.
Gregory, and of Austin his Missionary, having established a school
for ecclesiastical music at Canterbury, the rest of the island was
furnished with masters from that seminary. Indeed, Roman music
and singing were as much in favour here, during the middle ages,
when there were no operas or artificial voices to captivate our
countrymen, as Italian compositions and performers are at present.
It was at the latter end of the ninth century, that our Alfred
flourished ; a Prince, whom all his historians celebrate, not only
as a great sovereign, legislator, warrior, politician, and scholar, but
as an excellent musician. And Asser, Fryer John, Grimbald the
Monk, all his contemporaries, speak in high terms, not only of his
own performance, but of the encouragement he gave to music,
among other sciences, in the University of Oxford.
During this period, music, such as it was, must have been
thought a most important part of a learned education, as it was one
of the sciences which constituted the Quadrivium, or highest class
of philosophical learning: consisting of music, arithmetic, geometiy,
and astronomy, as the Trivium did of grammar, rhetoric, and logic.
But the methods of teaching both the theory and practice of music,
were so dark, difficult, and tedious before its notation, measure,
and harmonial laws were settled, that youth generally spent nine or
ten years in the study of it, seemingly to very little purpose. But,
under all these disadvantages, it appears to have been so much
(u} Et reversus est Rex tiissimus Carofas, &c. Vide Annal. & Hist. Francor. ab an. 708,
ad an. 990. Scriptores Coetaneos. Impr. Francofurti 1594. Sub vita Carol! magni. Charlemagne
died in 813.
The Abbe Velly, who, in his Hist, de France, torn. i. p. 53. gives the same account of the
establishment of the Romish chant in France, adds; that "the monarch was likewise desirous
of introducing into his churches the Liturgy, or Mass, as used at Rome; but here he met
with greater difficu!ties.--Tfie French dergy, jealous of their ancient usages, opposed, in a
body, this measure, as an innovation; the royal authority, however, at length prevailed." —
After such an account of Charlemagne, it is hardly possible to read the following passage
without amazement". Charles confirmed the instrument with his hand, that is to say, by
making his mark; for it is to be observed, that this Prince, one of the most learned men of
his age, could not write \ " According to Mezeray, the addition to the signature of this prince,
at the bottom of each treaty, must have been engraved; for he there says, "I have signed it
with the pommel of my sword, and promise to maintain it with the point."
(x) Biscop died 703, and Bede 735.
451
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
more agreeable to the Monks than their other studies, that they
seem to have cultivated it in retirement, at the exclusion of almost
every thing else that was connected with reason and philosophy.
Innumerable are the musical treatises to which these studies gave
birth, during this dark period, and torpid state of the human
mind ; while homicide was the first secular virtue, and while, among
ecclesiastics, the best singer was esteemed the most learned man (y).
So destitute of literature was this island, during the youth of
Alfred, that he was twelve years old before a master, properly
qualified, could be procured, in the western kingdom, to teach him
the alphabet. But, while yet unable to read, he could repeat a
variety of Saxon songs, which he had learned in hearing them sung
by others, who had themselves, perhaps, only learned them by
tradition (z). His genius, indeed, is said to have been first roused,
and stimulated by this species of erudition, which has often made a
considerable progress even among barbarians.
The well known story of Alfred entering and exploring the Danish
camp, in the disguise of a harper (a) or minstrel, and being
musician sufficient to impose on the enemy for many successive
days, is related by Ingulf, Hemy of Huntington, Speed, Malmes-
bury, Sir H. Spelman, Milton, and almost all the best modern
historians (6). And this excellent Prince not only encouraged and
countenanced the practice of music, but, in 886, according to the
Annals of the Church of Winchester, and many ancient writers,
founded a Professorship at Oxford for the cultivation of it as a
Science ; and the first who filled the chair was Friar John of St.
David's, who not only read lectures upon music, but logic and
arithmetic.*
St. Dunstan is mentioned by several German writers not only as
a great musician, but as the inventor of music in four parts: A
mistake that has arisen from the similarity of his name with that of
Dunstable, one of the earliest writers on Counterpoint in this
county; at least it is certain, that music in four parts was not only
unknown here, but throughout Europe, in the tenth century, during
which Dunstan flourished (c). Indeed, almost all the Monkish
writers thought it necessary to make a conjurer of this turbulent
prelate. Fuller (<Z), who has consulted them all, tells us, that he
was an excellent musician, which, according to this writer, was a
qualification very requisite to ecclesiastical preferment ; for, he
informs us, that, "preaching, in those days, could not be heard for
singing in churches." However, the superior knowledge of Dunstan
(y) Fabricii, Bib. Lat. torn. i. p. 644.
*~«J*L Por- ViS°m- ^ ana- 871- Brompton, Chion. in ALER. p. 814. and MS. Bever.
MSS. Coll. Txin. Oron. No. 47. L 82.
(a) Alfred translates the Latin word Plectrum into Hearp-nazel, Sax. by which, it should
seem, that the harp, in the time of this royal musician, was played like the ancient lyre, with
a plectrum. Naezl, is likewise Saxon for a nafl of the finger or toe. Heaxp-ncezlar, also implies
the pins or pegs of a harp.
(&) See Archaologia, vol. ii. 'p. loo. et seq. 1773. 4to.
(c) Dunstan died 988, aged 64. W) Church History, 1666.
* There is no evidence other than the Annals of Winchester to support this story.
452
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
hi music, was numbered among his crimes ; for being accused of
magic to the King, it was urged against him, that he had con-
structed, by the help of the Devil (probably before he had taken
him by the nose), a harp, that not only moved of itself, but played
without any human assistance (e). With all his violence and
ambition, it may be supposed, that he was a man of genius and
talents; since it is allowed, by the least monkish among his
historians, that he was not only an excellent musician, but a notable
painter and statuary, which, says Fuller, "were two very useful
accomplishments for the furtherance of Saint-worship either in
pictures or in statues/'
Indeed, it is expressly said, in a MS. life of this prelate (/), that
among his sacred studies, he cultivated the arts of writing,
harping, and painting. It is likewise upon record, that he cast
two of the bells of Abingdon abbey with his own hands (g).
And according to William of Malmesbury, who wrote about
the year 1120, the Saxons had organs in their churches before
the Conquest.* He says, that Dunstan, in the reign of King
Edgar, gave an organ to the abbey of Malmesbury ; which, by
his description, very much resembled that in present use (h).
William, who was a monk of this abbey, adds, that this benefac-
tion of Dunstan was inscribed in a Latin distich, which he quotes,
on the organ pipes (i).
As Dunstan is said, by several writers, to have furnished many
English churches and convents with Organs, this seems the place
to speak of the origin of that ecclesiastical instrument, and of its
first introduction into the church.
The most ancient proof of an instrument resembling a modern
organ blown by bellows, and played with keys, very different from
the Hydraulicon, which is of much higher antiquity, as has been
already shewn, p. 403, is a Greek epigram in the Anthologia,
attributed to lie Emperor Julian the Apostate, who flourished
about 364.
I shall here give a literal translation of this epigram, which,
though it contain no very beautiful or poetical images, will answer
the historical purpose of ascertaining the existence of an instrument
(0) If Hie modern Merlin had lived in an age so ignorant of mechanics, he would have
been thought a far greater magician *han his name-sake of King Arthur's days, and to have
deserved a faggot much more than either St. Dunstan or Friar Bacon.
(/) Vit. St. Dunstan. MSS. Cott. Brit. Mus. FAUSTIN. b. xffi.
(g) Monast. Anglic, torn. i. p. 104.
(h) Organa, ubi per areas fistulas musicis ntensuris elaborates, dudutn concertos follis
vomit anxius auras.
(0 Vit. Aldkem. Whart Ang. Sacr. ii, p. 33. Osb. Vit. S. Dunst.
* The Organ in England was mentioned by Aldhelm (d. 709), and in a Psalter which used
to be in the Cotton MSS. in the B.M. and now at Utrecht is an illustration of two monks
playing an organ. This MS. dates from about the 8th of 9th cent. An account of an organ
built at Winchester by Bishop Elphege (d. 951) before the middle of the loth cent, states that
Smen were required to work the bellows and that it had 400 pipes, 40 tongues (equivalent
keys) and 26 bellows. Two performers were required, "each of whom manages his own
keyboard." Each tongue worked 10 pipes, and as all the pipes attached to a tongue functioned
together, it was a case of "full organ" all the time.
The instrument is described in full in a poem written by Wolstan, a monk attached to
Winchester Abbey. Hopkin and Rimbault reprint the poem with a translation in their
History of the Organ, pp. 20 and 21.
453
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
in the fourth century, which, in many particulars, resembled a
modern organ (&).
"I see reeds of a new species, the growth of another and a
brazen soil; such as are not agitated by our winds, but by a blast
that rushes from a leathern cavern beneath their roots; while a
robust mortal (Z), running with swift fingers over the concordant
keys (m), makes them, as they smoothly dance, emit melodious
sounds."
Nothing material is omitted in the version of this epigram, or
rather enigma, upon the organ, though not a very ingenious one;
for the word av/.otv, the pipes, discovers the whole mystery.
At the time of Cassiodorus, who flourished under King Vitigas
the Goth, in 514, the Hydraulicon, or water-organ, began to lose
its favour, and the wind-organ, blown by hand-bellows, became
common; of which he gives the following description : "The organ,"
says he, " is an instrument composed of divers pipes, formed into
a kind of tower, which, by means of bellows, is made to produce
a loud sound; and in order to express agreeable melodies, there are,
in the inside, movements made of wood, that are pressed down
by the ringers of the player, which produce the most pleasing and
brilliant tones (»)."
Several ecclesiastical writers mention the organ as an instru-
ment that had very early admission into the church, at periods
somewhat different in different parts of Europe.* To Pope Vitalian
[R 683-97] is ascribed its first introduction at Rome in the seventh
century; and ancient annalists are unanimous in allowing, that
the first organ which was seen in France was sent from Constan-
tinople as a present from the Emperor Constantine Gopronymus
the Sixth, in 757, to King Pepin (o); which, as well as Julian's
epigram, gives the invention to Greece, where the Hydraulicon had
likewise its origin (p).
(k) I shall insert the original here, for the satisfaction of the learned reader, from the
Anthol. lib. i. cap. 86, 8.
AXXotijy opocii SOVOLKW $vcrt:' TJTTOV cwr aXXij;
XaAxeojs- raxa. /JLaXXov a?e£\a<rn?ow apovpi}?,
Aypiot ovS aveiurtcrtv wf) ijfterepots Soveovrot,
AAX two raupeMjs 7rpo0opa>v amjXvyyos ampnjs,
Nep0ev evrpijTWf teaXafitav wo pL&v oSevet.
Kat TIS OLVTIP ayepuxo? ex^ 8oa SaxrvKn X«po?»
Otfi airaXov oiciprttire? «wro0Atj3ov<nv
(J) ayepw^os, a tall, sturdy fellow, alluding to the force necessary to beat down that kind
of clumsy carillon keys of this rude instrument of new invention.
(m) The rules of the pipes, avXap; literally, keys.
(n) Organnm itaque est qttaque turns qwxdam diversis fistutis fabricate, quibus flatn
follium vox copiosissima destinatur; & itt earn modulatio decora componat, linguis quibusdam
bgnete ab interiors parte construitur, quas disciplinabilifer magistromm digiti riprimentes,
grandisonam emciunt et suavissimam cantilenam. In Psalm. CL.
(o) Mabffl. Annal. Benedict. ft) See vol. i. ubi supra.
* A Spanish Bishop, Julianns (c. 450), states that the organ was in common ose in Church
worship m Spain at that time. There is a description of one in the city of Grado before 580.
The art of organ building was known in England in the 8th cent, and it is probable that
organs were introduced into France about the middle of that century.
As early as the 9th cent. English craftsmen were exporting organ pipes to the Continent
454
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Venerable Bede, who died 735, says nothing of the use of
organs, or other instruments, in our churches or convents, when
he is very minutely describing the manner in which the Psalms
and Hymns were sung.
However, in a celebrated Missal of the tenth or eleventh
century, among the Barberini MSS. at Rome, No. 1854, where
directions for the performance of the several parts of the service
are given, in the midst of the lesson from The Song of the Three
Children, after the 27th verse : " Neither hurt nor troubled them/'
are these words: Here the priest begins to sing WITH THE ORGAN
(?)•
And, according to Mabillon and Muratori, organs became
common in Italy and Germany during the tenth century, as well
as in England; about which time they had admission in the convents
throughout Europe.* And music, long before this period,
having been received into churches and religious houses, under the
sanction of Fathers, Popes, Prelates, and other ecclesiastical
rulers, by whom it was incorporated into the Liturgy, it would
naturally employ much of the leisure and meditation of those
devoted to a monastic life; soften the rigour of a religious discipline;
animate zeal, and keep off langour and apathy in the monotonous
task of daily devotion, on which the mind could not at all times
apply itself with equal fervour. And being the only, or at least
the most pleasant and rational amusement which a religious pro-
fession allowed, its effects were more likely to operate powerfully
upon such as were sensible of its charms in convents and religious
houses, where few other pleasures came in competition with it; than
upon persons in the gay world, where 'the frequency and multipli-
city of delights, and the facility with which they are obtained,
often bring on satiety and indifference.
It does not appear in dark ages of ignorance and superstition
that the Anglo-Saxons, who then possessed the chief part of our
island, were more barbarous than the inhabitants of the rest of
Europe, Italy excepted. Indeed, no works of taste or genius,
in the polite arts, appear to have been produced at this time in
any part of it; and as to music, consisting merely of such chants
as were applied to the Psalms and Hymns of the church, it seems
to have been practised as much, and as successfully, in our own
country as in any other: for since the time that Austin, the first
Archbishop of Canterbury, and his successor, Theodore, the
First Primate of all England, with his assistant, Adrian the Monk,
established the Roman Chant in England, our Canto Fermo, if we
may believe the Monkish historians, was cultivated and taught by a
great number of the most ingenious clergy of the time, who, they tell
(4) Nee quidquam molestia intulit. Hie canere insipit cleris cum organis.
* There is a record of the destruction by fire of an organ at the Church of Clooncraff,
County Roscommon, Ireland, In 814.
Many churches in England were provided with organs by St. Dunstan (928-88).
455
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
us, were well skilled in music (r). Of what this skill and this music
consisted, if examples were to be given, they would, perhaps, not
exalt the fame of our Saxon ancestors: and it seems more for
their advantage, and for the credit of our country, to let them rest
in peace, and to rely on the favourable character given of their
musical talents by cotemporary writers, than to sweep off the
cobweb veil, and shew what was then the nakedness of the land (s).
Indeed, I have had but little leisure for the study of Saxon anti-
quities, though I have collected many, nor should I have had space
for such illustrations of them as concern my subject, if I had been
sufficiently qualified for such a task. But "Saxon antiquities have
lately been so well explored by the learned members of the Anti-
quarian Society, by Mr. Strutt, and by several other writers,
possessed of the necessary erudition, leisure, and diligence for such
investigation, that it is hoped a deficiency in these particulars will
be the more readily pardoned.*
(r} Pope Gregory, who, according to Bede, Eccles. Hist. 1. ii. c. z. first ordered Alleluja
to be sung in Britain, died 605, after reigning thirty years. Theodore, Archbishop of
Canterbury, and the Abbot Adrian, came from Rome, as the same writer informs us, in 668.
These introduced the Roman manner of singing in all our churches, which before had been only
practised in Kent. The first singinf master in Northumberland, except John, was Edde,
sirnamed Stephen, who was sent thither out of Kent by Wilfred, Primate of all England.
(s) One observation I must make relative to the cultivation of music by our British
and Saxon ancestors, which is; that among the representations of musical instruments which
have been found and published by the diligent Mr. Strutt. almost every one is to be seen that
was practised by the Greeks and Romans in their most flourishing state. But this, however,
does not convince me that the natives of this island either invented or knew the use of these
instruments; which it is most probable were brought hither by our conquerors the Romans, for
the amusement of their voluptuous commanders, and other great personages appointed to keep
us in subjection; and therefore the representations of these instruments, whether in painting
or sculpture, must have been copied from Roman models, which had likewise been previously
constructed from those of Greece. Cicero, in a letter to Atticus, seems to speak very
contemptuously of our ancestors, with respect to the progress they had made in arts and
sciences, for, after mentioning Cesar's expedition into Britain, he says, " News is daily
expected from that island. The coasts, however, are well defended by forts, and it has been
discovered that the silver mines which were expected to be found there, are merely imaginary;
so that the whole booty the place affords will consist in slaves, among whom I do not believe
any win be brought that are well skilled either in music or literature.7'
In ilia insttla ncque vllam spem pradcs, nisa ex mancipiis : ex quibtis nullos pitto te
Kteris out musicis erudites expectare. EP. 1. iv. c. 16.
* Despite this summary dismissal of the period, it was without doubt one of the most
important eras in the history of music. The change from the Greek magadizing at the octave
to the introduction of the 4th and 5th as part of the material used by composers, was an event
of first-rate importance. As early as the time of Otger this organizing was part of the general
technique of the times and the writer of the Mttsica enchiriadis treats of this method of
composition as if it was firmly established. Briefly stated the change in method may be
described as an advance from the Greek theory of a single melody line to an attempt at
combining two melodies. Without these early experiments Hie whole story of music would
have been different.
45fi
Chapter II
Of the Invention of Counterpoint, and State
of Music, from the Time of Quido, to the
Formation of the Time-Table
THE ingredients which I have now to prepare for the reader,
are in general such as I can hardly hope to render palatable
to those who have more taste than curiosity. For though
the most trivial circumstances relative to illustrious and favourite
characters become interesting when well authenticated, yet memory
unwillingly encumbers itself with the transactions of obscure
persons.
If the great musicians of Antiquity, whose names are so familiar
to our ears, had not likewise been poets, time and oblivion would
long since have swept them away. But these having been luckily
writers themselves, took a little care of their own fame; which their
brethren of after-ages gladly supported for the honour of the
corps.
But since writing and practical music have become separate
professions, the celebrity of the poor musician dies with the vibra-
tion of his strings; or, if in condescension, he be remembered by a
poet or historian, it is usually but to blazon his infirmities, and
throw contempt upon his talents. The voice of acclamation, and
thunder of applause, pass away like vapours; and those hands
which were most active in testifying temporary approbation, suffer
the fame of those who charmed away their care and sorrows in the
glowing hour of innocent delight, to remain unrecorded.
If it be true that the progress of music in every country depends
on the degrees of civilization and culture of other arts and sciences
among its inhabitants, and on the language which they speak, the
accents of which furnish the skeleton and nerves of all vocal
melody; great perfection cannot be expected in the music of Europe
during the middle ages, when the Goths, Vandals, Huns, Germans,
Franks, and Gauls, whose ideas were savage, and language harsh
and insolent, had seized on its most fertile provinces. All the
dialects that are now spoken in Europe are a mixture of Celtic
and Latin;* and as the inhabitants of Italy preserved the Roman
language longer than those of other countries remote from the seat of
empire, more vestiges of the Latin tongue still remain in Italy than
elsewhere. For though there are many terms in it that they were
* Bnmey may have been a learned musician, but he was a poor philologist.
457
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
forced to receive from the Barbarians who invaded them, yet the
chief part of the language is still Latin corrupted, and sometimes
softened and improved. And as literature, arts, and refinements,
were encouraged more early in Italy at the Courts of the Roman
Pontiffs, than in any other country, modern music has fhence been
furnished with its Scale, its Counterpoint, its best Melodies, its
religious and secular Dramas, and with the chief part of its Grace
and Elegance. Italy, in modern times, has been to the rest of
Europe what ancient Greece was to Rome; its inhabitants have
helped to civilize and polish their conquerors, and to enlighten the
minds of those whose superior force and prowess had frequently
enslaved them.
Few persons who speak or write on the subject of the present
system of music express the least doubt of Counterpoint having
been invented by Guido \_c. 990 — c. 1050], a monk of Arezzo, in
Tuscany, about the year 1022. But there is nothing more difficult
than to fix such an invention as this upon any individual : an art
utterly incapable of being brought to any degree of perfection, but
by a slow and gradual improvement, and the successive efforts of
ingenious men during several centuries, must have been trivial and
inconsiderable in its infancy; and the first attempt at its use neces-
sarily circumscribed and clumsy.
Guido, however, is one of those favoured names to which the
liberality of posterity sets no bounds. He has long been regarded
in the empire of music as Lord of the Manor, to whom all strays
revert, not indeed as chattels to which he is known to have an
inherent right and natural title, but such as accident has put into
the power of his benefactors; and when once mankind have acquired
a habit of generosity, unlimited by envy and rival claims, they
wait not till the plate or charity-box is held out to them, but give
freely and unsolicited whatever they find without trouble, and can
relinquish without loss or effort.
But, in order to ascertain with some degree of method and
accuracy how much modern music has been indebted to this cele-
brated monk, it seems necessary to give a list and analysis of the
writings that have been attributed to him. The tract which is most
frequently mentioned, and, except by the few that have seen it, is
supposed to contain all the inventions with which Guido has been
invested, is the MICROLOGUS (a). Of this work there are three
copies among the MSS. in the King of France's library at Paris :
the most ancient of which, No. 7211, is of the twelfth century; and
of this I obtained a copy, which was collated with the other two.*
It is a short treatise in monkish Latin, and full of obscurities, con-
taining an account of the author's method of teaching boys to sing,
(a] MucpoXoyo?, an epitome, or compendium.
* The MIcrologus of Guido is supposed to have been 'written Circa 1025. There is an
incomplete copy m the B.M. in a volume which contains two other works attributed to
Gmido (Harl. MS. 3199).
There is also a copy at Balliol College, Oxford, which was for a long time thought to be
by Odo of Chmy.
An edition with other works by Guido was published by Gerbert (Scriptores, 1784), and a
good critical edition by Don. A. AxneUi, O.S.B., of Monte Cassino, was issued in 1904.
458
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
with rules for the proper performance and composition of the plain
chant.
Though it is natural to expect to find in this treatise an account
of the inventions and improvements commonly attributed to
him (b): yet it is vain to seek them. He does not expressly daim
any of the inventions; and his expressions are ambiguous, even
where he seems to speak as an inventor : it is always — nos ponimus
nostris notis — nostram disciplinam. Sometimes this seems to be
only the dignified egotism of an author, and sometimes it seems
literal. One of the additions to the scales of the ancients he seems
however clearly to disclaim. The account is that he added the
Greek gamma at the bottom of the scale; but in his treatise his
account of the notes begins thus: " In primis ponitur r Grsecum d
modernis adjectum " (c).
Another expression seems to imply that the distinction of B flat
and B natural was not of his invention: for he says (d), " b vero
rotundum — adjunctum vel molle dicunt" : they call. Yet, in his
second chapter, where he gives the notes, he seems to speak as if
this invention was his own: between a and t, says he, we put
another b, which we make round; but the first we make square, as
a, b, 3, c, &c. (e).
His invention of the hexachords must have been posterior to
this treatise : for when he gives the scale he never mentions them;
nor is the term once used in the whole manuscript.*
His scale is always mentioned as going up to e e ; but in the
Micrologus he only gives it up to d d. The other note I suppose was
added afterwards when his scale was arranged into hexachords.
He seems by his expression to claim the honour of having added
the tetrachord superacutarum as he calls it; for he says, "addimus,
hie eisdem literis, sed variis figuris, tetrachordum superacutarum,
&c." These notes, says he, many call superfluous. "Nos, autem,
maluimus abundare, quam deficere."
The invention of the syllables ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, must like-
wise have been posterior to this treatise; for they are not once
mentioned in it.**
His invention of points upon parallel lines, instead of the
letters, is not to be found in the Micrologus. All his musical
examples are given in the letters TAB, &c. added to the vowels
(6) "Thus far go the improvements of Guido Aretinus, and what is called the Guidonian
system; to explain which he wrote a book he called his Micrologum." Malcolm, p. 558.
(c) Zarlino seems to allude to this, Istit. Harm. p. 103 & 148 in speaking of Guido's
Introdutiorio, by which the Italians generally mean his Micrologus.
(d) Cap. viii. de Aliis affinitatibus et b et (3.
(e) The natural in MS. musical tracts for many centuries after the time of Guido, was
expressed by a Gothic B, thus: b and the flat by an Italic b; whence one was called B
quadrum, and the other B rotundum.
* The invention of the hexachord is thought to have been in 1024, but it is difficult to
assign precise dates to either of the two events.
**Each hexachord began with a different letter name, but the syllabic names always
started from ut. The semitone in each hexachord was always between mi and fa. The whole
series extended over a compass of two octaves and five notes, and was called the Gamut.
• See plate p. 473-
459
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
a, e, i, o, u. However, the manner of placing some of them seems
to present a kind of embryo of that invention. For over the words
a line is drawn, and the letters, like the characters described in the
preceding chapter, are placed at different elevations with respect to
that line, according to their different degrees of acuteness or gravity.
£ e
Pri mum qua - ri - ie reg nwn De - i, &c.
In most of the examples, however, the letters are placed of
an equal height, and without a line ; but perhaps this was the
transcriber's fault, and to save time. Indeed the lines are not
wanted to ascertain the literal notation so much as that by
characters ; and both seem to have been in use in Guido' s time, as
he himself informs us in another work (/); for speaking of the notes
used by the Abbot Odo, he says, "though signs are used for sounds
in the Enchiridion, yet, letters commonly answer the purpose of
notation."
The most curious part of the Micrologus is the chapter De
Diaphonia, et Organi jura; as it shews the state of music at the time
it was written, and gives such specimens of the first rude attempts
at harmony as may be safely pronounced authentic.*
By Diaphonia, Guido only means discant ; which says he, we
call organum (g). This consisted in singing a part under the plain-
song, or chant. Some used only fourths for this purpose, but it was
allowable to double either the plain-song or the organum, by
octaves, ad libitum. The following is the example which he gives
of the organum, or under part being doubled; in which there is a
continued series of 4ths, 5ths, and 8ths. The sounds are expressed
by letters in the Micrologus; as C F c, D G d, &c., but, for the
convenience of the reader, I shall write them in Gregorian notes.
pj[*N*M»M* *•* • »» i| H m M H*
Organum
duplicat.
Cantos ,
i ^' r^ — i^:
f *£•--/*€/
Organum
-*-+-*-
3^:
Cf) De Divis. Monochor. secund. Boetium, ex Cod. Medic. Laurent, apud Martinum.
. Crt ^ kte M- Ronsseau's account of organizing does not exactly agree with the examples
given by Guido, which far from being confined to ads, scarcely ever admit that pleasing
concord; but Rousseau took his ideas of it from the Abbe Lebeufs specimens of the early
attempts at counterpoint in France, which, at first, consisted only of a minor 3rd to the 7th of
the key before a dose, and for a concord so simple and easily formed, says Rousseau, the
singers who organized had extraordinary pay. Organum has frequently been imagined the
instrument so called, not a vocal part added to the chant or plain song; and some have even
been so absurd as to make Guido in this part of the Micrologus talk of the Organist.
* There does not seem any reason to doubt the authenticity of the examples of Organum
or Ihaphony given by Odo the monk in the Musica enchriadis which precedes the Micrologus by
about 100 years.
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
But this method of discanting Guido seems to reject as harsh,
and substitutes for it an improved method, perhaps, of his own
invention ; but his expression, as usual, is ambiguous. Superior
[Nempe] Diaphonia modus durus est; noster vero mollis. This
smoother and more pleasing method of under-singing a plain-song
consists in admitting, besides the fourth, and the tone, the major and
the minor thirds; rejecting the semitone and the fifth (h). The
under part might sing in any of these four intervals with the upper,
according to certain rules which he gives ; but in a language almost
totally unintelligible. He annexes examples, which, though they
appear confused, and are probably very incorrectly transcribed (*),
may be regarded as curious exhibitions of nearly the best harmony
which seems to have been known in Guido's time; though very little
superior to that he had just censure.d as harsh. The following is a
specimen :
Cantus
** * *
Homo
Jeru-salem
All the examples are in the same wretched falso bordone (k) ; and
in every one of them the fourth is in the greatest favour of all the
concords: principatum obtinet, as he had laid it down. In spite of
his disapprobation the organum in consecutive fourths is still
frequently admitted ; and indeed few other concords are used till
the last example, when 3ds, which before seem to have been only
touched by accident, or as passing notes, are now honoured with an
important part in the Discant.
Cantus
Orgamim
(A) Though Guido so seldom admits the ditone or major 36 in his counterpoint, yet he
has the merit of having first exalted it to the rank of a concord; it being invariably numbered
with the discords by the ancients.
(») For instance, several 5ths occur; an interval which he expressly forbids, under the
plain-song.
(k) pus term, which the French call faux-bourdin. and the old English writers fa-burden,
was applied in the early days of discant to such counterpoint as had either a drone-base
(bourdon is French for a drone) or some part moving constantly in the same intervals with it:
as in three parts, when the treble moves in 6ths with the base, the middle part will consist of
no other intervals than 3ds.
(2) This harmony, if performed in triple time, would not offend modern ears: I write the
organum an octave lower than Guido, for the convenience of keyed instruments. .
=*
9**
46*
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The most singular circumstance in this counterpoint is the
rejection of the fifth : a rule to which he adheres even where the 5th
below is to our ears the natural and the fundamental base :
i
Super puteur. Sexto bcra
But it would be as absurd as hopeless, to try these first _ wild
essays of Harmony by the improved rules of modern composition.
This chapter, however, upon the Diaphonia, and the examples
annexed, sufficiently enable us to judge with what truth it has
been so often asserted that Guido was the inventor of Counterpoint,
or music in parts ; what improvements he might afterwards make
are not known ; but he must have taken large strides, if from these
uncouth and feeble attempts he advanced into the regions of pure
harmony ; or indeed produced any thing that the ear could now
tolerate. Nothing can be more pleasant, after seeing these
specimens, than the pomp with which Dr. Brown presents this
Monk to his readers. " After many centuries had passed in
darkness, GUIDO AROSE ! and with a force of genius surpassing that
of all his predecessors, invented the art of counterpoint, or
composition in parts (m)."
The method Guido pursued in teaching boys to sing, was by
making them practise with the monochord (n), for the division of
vihich he gives some plain and easy rules, cap. 3. But here it is
of importance to observe that he suggests no other than the old
division of Pythagoras.* The title of his tract just quoted p. 5. on
the division of the monochord, tells us that he follows the principles
of Boetius, who was a Pythagorean in harmonics. The diatonum
ditonicum, which the Abbe Roussier so much prefers to all others,
and in which the fourth consists of two major tones and a
limma: £x£xf|£ (o), is the arrangement with which the ear of
Guido was satisfied ; nay, he says no other division can be found.
He never seems to have heard of Ptolemy's division into major
and minor tone and semitone: which, indeed, forms the only
intervals that are consistent with harmony, or with the major third
being admitted as a concord.
In his chapter De Diapason, &c, he assigns a reason for using
seven letters ; and says that some moderns still adhered to the old
Greek system of tetrachords so far, as to use but four characters,
which they repeated from tetrachord to tetrachord, as we do from
octave to octave.
im) Dissert, on Poetry and Music, p. 198.
(*) The instrument which Guido recommends bad probably a seek, and was fretted; as
bridges, like those on a common monochord, could not, without much practice, have been
moved quick enough.
(o) See p. 356 of this volume.
*In a MS. at Vienna (National Library. Codex 51) there is an illustration of Guido
demonstrating the use of the monochord to Bishop Theodaldus. There is a reproduction of
this in TkTStory of Notation by C, Abfy Williams.
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
This was solmisation a la Grec. ra, TIJ, TO), re, and the English,
in general, make use of only four of the six syllables of the
hexachords : mi, fa, sol, la.
It has already been observed (p)f that Guido, in speaking of the
ecclesiastical tones, which he explains in his Micrologus, c. xiv.
assigns to them the same power over the human affections, as the
ancients did to their modes. And now, having given a general idea
of the contents of this celebrated manuscript, I shall proceed to
enumerate the other writings that have been attributed to Guido.
In the King of France's library at Paris, besides three copies of
the Micrologus, the following tracts, No. 7211, go under his name:
De sex motibus vocum a se invicem, et dimensione earum. Ejusdem
Rhythmus. Ejusdem Liber de Musica. Part of these MSS. were
transcribed in the -eleventh, and part in the thirteenth century.
In the Vatican, a Dialogue on Music, which begins, Quid est
Musica? is given to Guido, but I found it afterwards to be the
Enchiridion of Odo, Abbot of Cluny.*
Padre Martini, in his Saggio di Contrappunto, p. 32, gives a
long passage from a tract by Guido : (Formula Tonor, ex Codice
Mediceo Laurent, XLIX.) " Sunt pr&terea alia Musicorum,. genera
aptata," &c. This work is called by Guido himself, in his letter to
Michael the Monk of Pomposa, Antiphonarium, and is frequently
quoted under that title by others.
And in the list of authors, annexed to his first volume, the same
author, p. 457, includes: De artiftcio novi Cantus, et Mensura
Monochordi Guidonis, apud Pez. Thes. Anecd. nov. T. vi. (q).
He likewise, in the same volume, quotes Epist. ipsius Guidonis ad
Michaelem Monachum Pomposianum, ex Cod. Ambros.
There is a small volume of MSS. in the British Museum, No.
3199 [HARL. MSS.] which contains fifteen of the twenty chapters
of Guido's Micrologus ; a short tract, De Constitutionibus in Musica,
which seems to belong to that in which the famous passage occurs
that was so severe on the singers of his time, and which has since
been often quoted with pleasure, as applicable to their successors :
Temporibus nostris super omnes homines Fatui sunt Cantores.
Guido, in the prologue to his Antiphonarium, (apud Gerbutum,
torn. II. p. 68.) speaks of singers with still more bitterness, in
the following lines.
Musicorum et cantorum
Magna est distantia,
Isti dicunt, illi sciunt,
Qua componit Musica.
Nam qui facit, quod non sapit,
Definitur bestia.
Caterum tonantis vocis
(£) P. 424 of this volume.
(q) These are two distinct tracts, the latter of which is likewise in the Laurent, library
at Florence, tinder the title, De Divisions Monochordi, secund. Boet. urn.
* See editor's note, p. 432 with regard to the authorship of this MS.
463
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Si Indent (al. Laudent) acumina,
Superabit Philomela,
Vel vocalis asina.
Quare eis esse suum
Tollit diakctica.
Hac de causa rusticomm
Multitude plurima,
Donee frustra vivti, mira
Laborat insania
Dum sine magistro mdla
Dicitur antipkona.
Between a Singer and Musician
Wide is the distance and condition ;
The one repeats, the other knows,
The sounds which harmony compose.
And he who acts without a plan
May be defin'd more beast than man.
At shrillness if he only aim
The nightingale his strains can shame ;
And still more loud and deep the lay
Which bulls can roar and asses bray.
A human form 'twas vain to give
To beings merely sensitive,
Who ne'er can quit the leading-string,
Or psalm, without a master, sing (r).
Here Guido speaks of lines and spaces, and of coloured lines.
Here also is the hymn Ut queant laxis resonare firbis, in old ecclesi-
astical notation; and Tu patris sempiternus e$ filius, written in the
same manner as it is printed in 'this volume, p. 433. This tract is of
considerable length, and clears up several points which the Micro-
logus had left disputable. In sect. 3d, Quid est Armenia? he gives
a fair definition of harmony in the sense it is now understood:
Armonia est diversarum vocum apta coadunatio, &c. — and speaks
of Organum as synonymous with symphonia and diaphonia, dis-
tinct from the instrument called an organ. But here, in treating of
symphonia vocum, no 3ds are mentioned, and his harmony in four
parts consists only of 4ths, 5ths, and diapasons, or 8ths.
In completing the scale, or septenary, he quotes Virgil : Orpheus
Obloquitur numeris septem discrimina vocum. Then, after giving
rules for diatessaroning an,d diapenting, or organizing in a regular
series of 4ths and 5ths, he enumerates the ecclesiastical tones, and
finishes by calling them by their Greek names: as primus tonus
vocatur Hypodorius, secundus Hypophrygius, &c.
^l Jpie distinction between a singer and musician was first made by Boethras, lib. I. cap.
34- .Next, by AureBan then by Guide, and afterwards by almost all subsequent writers on
music, down to Retro ^Aaron; see.his Luctdano in Musica, Libra ido. fol i. "II Cantore, et
sunpkce Cttaredo sort m comparattoite del musico come e il bandatore rtspetto al iodesfo," &c.
464
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
Guido, both here and in the Micrologus, uses the terms authentic
and plagal for the modes, and likewise the Greek distinctions of
protus, deuterus, tritus and tetrardus (s). I find in the Monks
Hubald and Odo, who are both more ancient writers than Guido,
these terms, and many others, which are still retained in the music
of the modern Greeks; a proof, that, before the separation of the
two churches, the Romans had their chants from the Greeks.
There is likewise in the same volume a short tract, De Tonis,
which I should have supposed to have been Guide's Antiphona-
rium, if I had not unsuccessfully tried to find in it some remarkable
passages of that work which I remembered to have seen quoted
elsewhere.
There are so few means by which a Monk devoted to an obscure
and tranquil state can arrive at celebrity without quitting the plain
path which piety and the duties of his profession have marked out
for his pursuit, that Guido seems to have excited the envy of his
brethren by attempting it. Luckily the study of music was not
incompatible with the rules of his order; and while he seems to
lament the malignant effects of that enmity which his successful
studies had created, he established a reputation among the liberal
and candid part of mankind, which has lasted more than seven
hundred and fifty years. It was perhaps a stimulus to excessive
devotion that the Monks seldom exercised their pens but in
endeavours to swell their legends, by transmitting to posterity the
actions of those insane mortals, who by anticipating infernal tor-
ments, were honoured with the venerable title of saints. But these
lives have long ceased to be read, even where the mind has little
else to feed on; while the fame of those who have bequeathed to
their descendants some durable memorial of their existence, which
interests tradition, will never fade away; and had the life of Guido
been written, though pregnant with few events, it would have been
perused with avidity as long as the art, whose powers he extended,
shall afford pleasure to mankind.
But concerning the life of this musical legislator little is known,
except that he was a Monk of the order of St. Benedict when he
first distinguished himself, and afterwards Abbot of the Holy Cross
at Avellano, near Arezzo. Yet, luckily for his fame, he has him-
self recorded perhaps the most important and honourable event of
his life, in a letter to his frieixd Michael, a Monk of Pomposo, which
Cardinal Baronius has inserted in his Ecclesiastical Annals, vol. xi.
p. 74, and introduced it with an account of his having invented
" a new method of teaching music, by which a boy might make a
greater progress in a few months, than a man of intelligence and
assiduity used to do in several years." This author likewise
informs us that the singular service which Guido had rendered
music, having been communicated to Pope Benedict the VIII. that
Pontif sent for him to Rome, and treated him with great kindness:
a circumstance which happened, according to Baronius, in the year
1022.
(s) TeropTos barbarized.
Voi,. i. 30. 465
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
It seems, however, as if Guido had not been so far dazzled by
th3 splendour of a court or the honours he had received at Rome
as to remain long in that city; for Benedict dying in 1024, we find
by his own letter to the Monk Michael, that his successor, John XX.
or, as some say, the XlXth. had sent three messengers to invite
him to return to Rome. On his arrival there a second time, his
reception from the new Pontif was still more flattering than from
his predecessor. He frequently condescended to converse with him
freely on the subject of his musical discoveries; and when Guido
first shewed him his Autophonarium, or notation of the Mass for
the whole year (2), his Holiness, regarding it as a prodigy, would
not quit his seat till he had learned to sing a chant in it by Guide's
new method, and had by this means accomplished that himself
which he hardly believed possible when it was reported to have
been done by others.
The Pope, desirous to retain him in his service, pressed frim
to continue at Rome; but Guido, finding himself unable from the
bad state of his health to bear the approaching heat and bad air of
that city during summer, left it, upon a promise of returning thither
in winter, to explain his new system in a more ample manner to his
Holiness.
When he quitted Rome he made a visit to the Abbot of Pom-
poso, a town in the duchy of Ferrara, who so strongly solicited him
to settle in his convent, that at length he consented, in hopes, as
he says, " of extending the fame of that great monastery by his
future labours/'
It was here that he composed several of his musical tracts, and,
some imagine, his Micrologus, which he dedicated to Theobald,
Bishop of Arezzo, and which, according to a memorandum found
on the back of the original MS. he finished in the thirty-fourth year
of his age. But if the Micrologus were written after his second
journey to Rome, and his acquiring so much fame for his new
method of teaching to sing by the syllables ut, re, mi, &c. it is
difficult to account for his utter silence about them throughout that
work, where a literal notation is constantly used.
It now remains, either by passages from his own works, or the
testimony of writers nearly cotemporaiy, to ascertain the inven-
tions that have been attributed to him. And these shall be con-
sidered separately, under the following heads: Gammut, or the
Greek gamma added to the scale; Lines and Clefs; the Harmonic-
Hand; Hexachords, and Solmisation; Points, Counterpoint, Dis-
cant, and Organizing; and the Polypkctrum, or spinet. I shall be
thought too minute, perhaps; but however dull such disquisitions
may appear to miscellaneous readers, they certainly constitute the
Business of my History. These are facts, the resfbut flourishes;
for it is unfortunate with respect to the music of the middle ages as
well as of the ancient Greeks and Romans, that when so little is
known there should still remain so much to be said.
(*) See p. 415 and 431.
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
Mere music, however, says nothing to eyes that cannot read,
or ears unable to hear it. To such, therefore, as are both blind
and deaf to musical signs and sounds, and contentedly ignorant
of both, I fear this chapter will be very far from amusing. But
as there are many things belonging to a work of this kind, which
though few will read, yet, if omitted, many would miss, I shall
endeavour to animate myself with the hopes that the few will at
least have curiosity and perseverance sufficient to travel with me
to the dusty shelves of Gothic lore, and to the gloomy cells of
Monks aiid Friars, where I am forced with great toil, and small
expectation, to seek my materials.
Menage, in his Origine de la Langue Frangoise, gives the
following derivation of the word Gammut. " Guido Aretinus, a
Benedictine Monk, who had been employed to correct the ecclesiasti-
cal chants, about the year 1024, composed a scale, conformable
to the Greek system, adding to it a few sounds above and below.
And discovering afterwards that the first syllable of each hemistich
in the hymn to St. John the Baptist (u), written by Paul Diaconus,
who lived about the year 774, formed a regular series of six sounds
ascending:
* i re, ni, fe, „!, !(S.
he placed at the side of each of these syllables one of the first
seven letters of the alphabet, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and because
he accompanied the note which he added below the ancient
system with the letter gamma, the whole scale was called GAMMUT,
a name by which it is distinguished to this day/'
The Abbe Lebeuf (x) gives a derivation of the word gammut,
which does not seem so happy as many of his other conjectures.
He thinks it probable, that after the seven sounds in ascending had
been expressed by the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G, the second
octave was indicated by Greek characters, on which account T
.gamma, the Greek G, appeared at the top of the page or monochord,
and by this means, gammut became the general name of all the
notes. But this conjecture is not confirmed by the Micrologus of
Guido, nor by any of the ancient MSS. of musical treatises that I
have seen.
It has been imagined likewise by the Abb6 du Bos, with as
little foundation, that Guido gave the name of gamma to the first
note of his scale, because the same sound was expressed by that letter
in the Diatonic genus of the Greeks; but upon examining the
diagrams of Alypius, and the other Greek theorists, it appears,
that this sound would have been below the proslambanomenos,
(«<) Ut queant laxis resonare fibris
Uiira gestorum famuli tuorwn
Solve polluti labii reatum
Sancfe .' *
(«) Traits du Chant feel. p. 155.
467
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
or most grave sound in all their systems; nor does the note which
we call G, or gammut, occur in any one of the Greek diagrams,
except in Aristides Quintilianus, vho says, p. 25, that whenever
a sound was wanted below the proslambanomenos of the
Hypodorian mode, it was expressed by the letter omega go,
recumbent, as the last or lowest sound in all the systems. This,
says Meibomius, in his notes, p. 240, accounts for Guide's placing
the sound G or F below A in his system, but gives no reason
for the preference of that letter to every other in the alphabet.
Poor Guido, like other ancient authors, is often praised, and
sometimes censured, for ideas which never entered his head : and
in the present instance, Messrs. Menage, Lebeuf, Du Bos, and
Meibomius have been bestowing their ingenuity on the dent d'or,
before they were assured of its existence; for, alas! the Greek letter
gamma had been used by Odo, the Monk of Cluni, in his
Enchiridion, for the lowest sound of the musical scale, a century
before the writings of Guido were known; and he speaks of it
himself, in his Micrologus, as a note added by the moderns (y).
The Abbot Berno, too, who wrote several tracts on music
about the beginning of the llth century, says, that the moderns
placed the Greek letter at the beginning of the scale out of reverence
to the Greeks, from whom music was derived (z).
But when a lower sound than proslambanomenos, which the
Romans had expressed by the letter A, was found necessary to
complete the scale, as octaves were represented by the same
letters in different forms, it was natural to use the Greek Gamma
for that purpose; and as to the intention of expressing gratitude
to the Greeks, that thought seems more likely to have occured
to those who were guessing at a reason afterwards, than to have
been in the minds of those who added F to the diagram.
Parallel lines have already been proved of higher antiquity
than the time of Guido; but the regular staff of four lines was not
generally used in the church tin the thirteenth century.* The descrip-
tion, however, which Guido has given of different coloured lines
to ascertain the sound of C and F has encouraged an opinion of
his having first suggested the idea; but even that contrivance is not
indisputably his property: for in the Magliabecchi library at
. (y) .The Enchiridion of Odo, Abbot of Cluni, written about the year 020 is still extant
in the king of France's library, in the Vatican, and in the library of BaUol Col Oxon Itis
a dialogue between a master and a scholar (Indptt Explanatio Ariis Music* 'sub Dialoeo}
beginning, Quid est musical The Vatican copy however is said to have been written by Guido
but it is a tract which Gmdo himself quotes, more than once. The title of this tract has been
mistaken by Sgebert, De Script. Eccles. cap, 109, for the name of the author, and aslnichit
is_ inserted in Brassard's List of Writers on Music; but this is less surprising t£m i that
-fc—M so far deviate fro— •"" — a *
: Enchiridion of Od
-Jg £SSL*K ffSSS&T&gg"1 * *""""" —'«•*"«•• * **«
*£***& Une,f?.snaay jf «<«• t° indicate the pitch of a note was firat used about
»-"-•*"••- ** — tantad years lato (SS
Before the use of the red line it was the eostom to scratch a line across the patchment.
468
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
Florence I found a MS. missal, said to be of the tenth century, in
the old ecclesiastical notation, with two lines, the one red, and the
other yellow. Sometimes indeed there was but one line, which
was red. I made a facsimile of two fragments, which I would
have had engraved for this place, had not the subject of ancient
notation been already illustrated with a sufficient number of
examples in the preceding chapter.
Kircher (a) speaks of Guido using five lines and five spaces;
but without authority. Indeed he seldom discovers the source of
his information, and it would have been difficult to authenticate
many of the wonderful things he relates from mere tradition and
common report. But as he gives liberally to Guido, he is as little
scrupulous in taking away: for he tells us that points were used
long before the time of Guido, and instances a most ancient MS.
in the monastery of Vallombrosa, where the melody to the famous
hymn Salve Regina is written in points on and between two lines
only. It is not certain that Guido invented points, but it is
generally allowed that this hymn was written by Hermannus
Contracrus, who died in 1054: that is, thirty years after the
Micrologus was finished. He asserts likewise, with equal ill luck,
that Guido claims the invention of the syllables utt re, mi, &c. in
his letter to the Monk Michael, published by Baronius; in which
letter, however, not the least mention or allusion to these syllables
is discoverable. He asserts roundly too that he not only invented
polyphonic music, or counterpoint, but the polyplectrum, or spinet,
for which there is not the least support to be found in Guido's
writings. Kircher's Musurgia is a huge book, but a much larger
might be composed in pointing out its errors and absurdities.
But though lines without spaces, and spaces without lines had
been used before the time of Guido, he seems to have first suggested
the use of lines and spaces together: and thus the lines, which
by some had been made as numerous as the notes, were reduced
to four; a number which in missals and rituals of the Romish
church has never since been exceeded. Indeed the use of a line
for each note, in the manner exhibited page 435, may never have
arrived at the knowledge of Guido, who speaks the language of
an inventor, with respect to lines and spaces, more than on any
other occasion. For in the prologue to his Antiphonarium he
says, " By Divine assistance, I have pointed out such a method of
notation, that, by a little help from a master at first, an intelligent
and studious person may easily acquire the rest by himself. And if any
one should suspect my veracity in this assertion, let him come to our
convent, let hirn make the experiment, let him examine the children
under my care, and he will find, that, though they are still severely
punished for their ignorance of the psalms, and blunders in reading,
they can now sing correctly, without a master, the chants of those
psalms of which they can scarce pronounce the words/' He then
(*) Musurgia, p. 114.
469
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
proceeds to explain the use of lines and spaces, and to inform his
friend Michael the Monk, to whom he addresses his Antiphonarium,
that " whatever notes are placed on the same line, or in the same
space, must have the same sound." *rAnd that the name of the
sound is determined either by the colour of the line, or by a letter
of the alphabet placed at the beginning of it:" a rule of such
consequence, " that if a neuma or melody be written without a
letter or coloured line, it will be like a well without a rope; in which,
tho' there be plenty of water, it will be of no use."
Whoever examines the ancient ecclesiastical notes without lines
or letters, will perceive no exaggeration in what Guido says of his
invention, or at least improvement, of the old method of notation,
by applying lines to the letters and characters which he found in use.
And if he be allowed the invention of lines and spaces, clefs will of
course accompany them. For these were originally nothing more
than the letters of the alphabet placed opposite to notes of the same
name ; and it was certainly about the time of Guido that the claves
signata, as they were called, were reduced to two, F and C, at the
distance of a fifth from each other ; leaving, till more lines were
pressed into the service, the rest of the notes to be divined by their
situation (&). This, therefore, is the mystery of unknown song, of
which Guido so frequently speaks in his epistle to the Monk
Michael: Regulce de ignoto cantu; — argumentum novi cantus
inveniendi ; by which expressions he claims the merit of having
first taught the method of discovering musical intervals with cer-
tainty by the eye ; and of singing melodies with which the ear had
not been previously made acquainted.
No proof can be found in the writings of Guido that the
Harmonic Hand was of his construction ; writers, however,
mention it by the name of the Guidonian hand, soon after his time
(c). And, when his system was digested and the hexachords were
arranged, to teach the names of the notes by the joints of the fingers
of the left hand seems to have been a common expedient ; in which,
however, the syllabic names of the notes do not follow in an order
sufficiently regular or remarkable to. be of much use in forming the
hexachords, or discriminating the mutations. Such an expedient
would have been more dear and useful in teaching the tetrachords,
by appropriating a finger to each of the five, in the great system, or
disdiapason of the Greeks. And by imagining the five fingers of
each hand to represent the five lines and spaces of the base and
treble clefs, children may likewise be taught to name the notes in
the scale much sooner than solmisation by the harmonic hand.
(6) See the plate, p. 440 for the form of the several clefs used from the twelfth to the
fifteen's! century*
(c) Sigebert, In Chronico, ad an*. 1028; and John JSgidins, a musical writer of the
thirteenth century, quoted by the Abbot of St Blasius, say that those who are not possessed
of a monochord, might supply the want of that instrument by the Hand, which may represent
the scale and musical intervals; and as there are various monochords, so the Hand is variously
used. The harmonic hand Is likewise recommended by John Cotton, cap I. and by Franchinus,
Pract. Mus. fib. L cap. L
47®
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
Henry Faber (d) [d. 1552] has arranged the notes in the harmonic,
or Guidonian hand, in a better manner than any other author within
my knowledge, by placing a clef at the top of the three middle
fingers, as beacons or land-marks, and making each finger the repre-
sentative of a tetrachord (e). D'Avella (/) exhibits a great number
ol Harmonic hands, in which the notes of the scale are differently
disposed ; one of the hands, I knpw not why, he calls Boethian,
another he gives to Plato, and a third to Aristotle !
In all my enquiries after the writings of Guido in the several
libraries of Europe, I have never been able to find, in the tracts
attributed to him, any other representation of the hexachords, or
solmisation, of which he is said to be the author, than the following,
which may be seen in the Museum MS. No. 3199 [Harl. MSS.], and
which I find agrees exactly with the MS. whence the Abbot of San-
Blasius has given a facsimile. It is in the Epistle De Artificio Novi
Cantus, pre&ed to his Antiphonarium, and addressed to the Monk
Michael. This epistle was first published imperfectly, by Baronius;
next, and more fully, by Mabillon, L.LV. an. 324 ; and, lastly, still
more correct, by Bernard Fez (g). In some MSS. this epistle is
prefixed to the Micrologus, and by some writers quoted as a part of
it ; in others, however, only the two epistles dedicatory to Theobald,
Abbot of Arezzo, are found ; which are certainly all that originally
belonged to that celebrated work. The following may be regarded
as the germ, or first sketch of solmisation.
fancte* Icfy&nncf
Rousseau has given the same melody, in Gregorian notes, from
an ancient MS. in the Chapter Library at Sens, as it was probably
sung in the time of Guido, and in which each of the six syllables is
exactly applied to the correspondent sound of the gammut,
(<2) Ad Mitsicam Practicam Introductio Mulhus. 1571 [ist ed. c. 1550].
fe) See the plate, p. 473. No. I.
(/) Regole di Musica, Roma, 1657, folio. A book full of prejudices in favour of old rules,
and many peculiar to the author; which render what was before datk and difficult, still more
unintelligible. Fiom his ignorance of history and the little that is known concerning the music
of the ancients, he advances innumerable absurdities ; one of which is, that, "St. Gregory
ordered that no other Gammut should be used is* tiie. church,, than that of- Guido," who lived
five hundred years after him.
(g} Thesaurus Anted.. Noviss.- Tom. V,
4W-
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
(h)
-p :
. —
£ UT QUEANT LAX IS
i RE-SON A RE FB-R1S MI-RAGE-.
STO-
RUM
r *
===»*
FA MUL - 1 TU . O - RUM SOL - VE POL - LU . TJ LABI
SANCTE
)-HAN-NES.
Innumerable are the representations of this hymn by writers
posterior to the time of Guido, who have expressed the melody in
letters, sometimes with lines, and sometimes without, as
well as in Gregorian notes. They all tend to the same
purpose of ascertaining and articulating the sounds of the six
notes of the scale in the key of C ; and if it be toe, as with
great probability has been suggested, that Guido did not
pretend to invent a new scale, but to revive that which had been
long used by the Greeks and Romans, it was very natural,
after forming one tetrachord of the Greeks into a hexachord,
for him to proceed in making the same addition to all the tetrachords
in the great system of the ancients. These, as has been shewn in
the first section of the Dissertation, were of three kinds, and so
are the hexachords.
ist Tetrachord
sd Tetrachord
Durum Hexachord
Naturale Hexachord
AfoUt Hexachord
and each of these being repeated an octave higher will extend the
scale to dd, the last note in Guido's Diagram (*).*
But it is only by a view of the whole Guidonian system disposed
into hexachords, rising one out of the other, that the use of several
different syllables being given to a single note can appear ; and
to those who have never studied the scale and hexachords in their
several relations, the names of Gammut, A re, B mi, C fa ut,
D sol re, E la mi, F fa ut, G sol re ut, &c. must seem mere gibberish.
But their use is manifest in the Diagram on the next page, No. 2,
which shews the contexture and relation of the keys ; and that
where more than one syllable is added to the literal name of a note,
(h') This is the ancient form of the Tenor Clef, which is' only a Gothic C.
(*) In the Canto Fermo, or anciejit chants of the Romish church, F was not allowed to
be made sharp in the tey of G; which rendered B. as tritonus to Ffi. harsh and difficult:
hence the hexachord of G was called durum; that of C, in which the B flat was unnecessary,
•natter ale; and mat of F, in which the B fiat was indispensable, molle, soft; as it removed the
harshness which the tritonus, or sharp 4th. consisting of three whole tones between F and B C,
would have occasioned. The durum hex. is sometimes called by the Italians, the hex. of B
quadra, and by the French B quarre, or B.
* A seventh hexachords was added; see plate No. 2. p. 473.
47*
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
2?*/. ('ttfJanit/'H JSattd
a | i £ 4 f £ a]a
/et. w/.
^ t-f. me. ly/> c.W
rtE*i
. \"u£. A /«, Bisw. C/a T>JO£.
it is on account of its appertaining to more than one hexachord:
as the sound G sol, re, ut, for instance, belongs to all the three
original keys, or hexachords of C, F, and G. For it is sol, as 5th
of the key of C ; re, as 2d of F, and ut, as the key note of G.
Hence arise Mutations or changes of names in solmisation: as the
sound G, for example, while C is the key, is constantly called sol ;
when F is the key it is called re, and when the modulation passes
473
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
into the key or hexachord of G, it is called ut, or according to
the Italians, do (k).
Though the system of solmisation does not appear to have been
wholly developed in the writings of Guido, the invention is ascribed
to him by writers very near the period in which he lived: for
Sigebert, a Monk of Gemblours, in the diocese of Namur, in
Brabant, in his Chronicle under the year 1028, as well as in his
account of ecclesiastical writers, says, that " he had excelled all his
predecessors ; as by his method children were taught to sing new
melodies, with more facility than by the voice of a master, or the
use of an instrument: for by only affixing six letters or syllables
to six sounds, all that music admits of, regularly, and distinguishing
these sounds by the joints of the fingers of the left hand, their
distances ascending and descending through the whole diapason, are
clearly presented both to the eye and the ear (/)."
Now as Sigebert was nearly cotemporary with Guido, his
testimony in favour of the discoveries attributed to him have more
weight than any proofs that can be adduced from such of his own
writings as are generally known (m).
John Cotton, who lived about a century after Guido, in the first
chapter of his MS. tract on Music [De Musicd], says, that solmisa-
tion by the six syllables, ut, re, mi, fa, &c. was practised by the
English, French, and Germans ; but adds that the Italians made
use of other syllables: an assertion the more extraordinary, as
Italy had given birth both to Guido and his invention.
Carpentier, in his Supplement to the Latin Glossary of Du
Cange, art. Gamma, the Musical Diagram, gives a passage from
the Chronicle of Tours, under the year 1033 (ri), which puts Guido
in full possession of the scale and solmisation. " Guido Aretine,
a wonderful musician, flourished in Italy about this time. He
constructed the gammut and rules for singing, by applying those
names to the six sounds, which are now universally used in music.
For, before, practitioners had no other guide than habit and
the ear,"
(&) The first mention I find of the syllable do being used instead of ut is by Gio. Maria
Bononcini. father of the celebrated composer and rival of Handel, in his Musico Prattico,
published in 1673. P- 35. who says, "S'avverta, eke in vece delta, sillaba. ut i moderni si servano
di Do, per essere $iu risiunumte."
The Guidonian syllables were taught at foil length to children in my own memory, without
explaining their relations to different hexachords. About the year 1740, being at Chester
grammar-school,, Mr. Baker, then organist of the cathedral in that city, who had studied music
under Dr. Blow, while he was confined to his house by a fit of the gout, undertook to enable
me to become his assistant in the most summary way he thought possible, by setting me the
syllabic, not literal gammut. But though I learned in a few days to play two or three chants
on the organ at the cathedral, it was many years before I regarded the words G sol re ut, a la
mi re, &c., but as mere jargon, or was able to assign to each syllable its place in the different
hexachords.
(2) In Chronico ad ann. 1028, et in Libro Descript. Eccles. cap. 144.
The word rfgulariter in this passage is worth remarking, as it accounts for the exclusion
of si, or the sharp 7th of a key, for which there was no appellation provided. And it seems
to have been regarded by Guido and his followers as an irregular and licentious note of taste.
Indeed the tritonus or sharp 4th has been a rock of offence to Greeks, Chinese, Scots, and
savages ; and is still so to rustic singers, as all those who have ears, in every country
congregation throughout the kingdom, experience every Sunday.
(m) The Chronicle of Sigebert begins at 181, and is continued to 1112. He died the
year after.
(»} Apud Marten. Tom. V. Collect coll. 999*
474
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
Henry Faber (o), a clear and instructive writer for the age in
which he lived, quotes Guido fairly, and as if he had read him.
And it is his opinion that he certainly applied the syllables ut, re,
&c. to the ancient literal names of notes.
Dominico Pedro Cerone, in an elaborate work, written in the
Spanish language, and published at Naples 1613,* has taken great
pains^ to throw a light upon this subject, which he says he found,,
by his own experience, extremely dark and difficult (p). He
minutely goes through all the seven hexachords, shews their con-
nexion with each other, and gives scales to manifest the mutations,
which, in ascending beyond a Hexachord are made by the syllable
re, and, in descending, by la (q).
Durum
The same series of sounds in the octave and 15th would have the same names.
Natural
P
. ^ jtefb
In justice to Guido it must be allowed, that his Hexachords
provided for all circumstances of solmisation in the ecclesiastical
modes, which were subject to no accidents of flats and sharps, and
in which no other sounds or keys were used but those which the
.different species of octave in C natural furnish. Guido himself
lakes notice of this (r), and declares, that he writes merely for the
church, where the pure Diatonic genus was first used. Transported
keys, however, from c natural major and a natural minor, which
are only imagined to change their pitch, when represented by other
(o) Ad Musicam Practicam Introductio. Mulhusii Duringorum, 1571.
^ (6) "Y es cierto, que una de las cosas que hasta agora a muchos ha hecho deficultad &
impeoimento para cantollano y organo, ha sido las mutancas, come oor esDeriencda vemos
cada dia." Melopeo. lib. v. cap. 2. De las mutancas, p. 398.
T tyvn? ^gdcni language the whole mystery of mutations might be resolved into this short
role: "That the best way of modulating into the immediate noti above or below anykeyT is
by the > sth; that a transition, for instance, from G to F, or F to G is forbidden, ^ontes it is
through the key of C; but from C that it is warrantable to pass either into G or Ff mdifferemly/5
j fe? ,Sunt Pr&terea et alia musicorum genera aliis mensuris aptata, {meaning the Chromatic
and Enharmonic). Sed hoc genus musicce quod nos exposuimus, (which is the simple diatonic )
penttssimorum musicorum virorum ractione {f ratione) suaviori et veraciori et natura'li
modulacione constat perfectumf Tract. Form. Tonor. ex. Cod. Medeceo. Laurent S
plutei 29.
* See editor's note p. 114, with regard to this work.
475
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
sounds in the same relation to the key-note, and all the accidents
to which modern modulation is subject, should be provided for.
To do this in a clear, simple, and practicable manner, would require
great meditation. It has frequently been attempted by men of
science, as well as by practical musicians, who though they have
obviated some former inconveniences, and supplied a few of the
defects which have been complained of, have generated others that
have been found far more difficult to vanquish ; so that the business
still remains to be done. And before I terminate this long^ article,
to which very few readers will, perhaps, wish me to return, it seems
necessary to mention the attempts that have been made at multiply-
ing and diminishing the number of syllables used in Solmisation
according to the Hexachords.
The authors of musical tracts discover but little discontent on
this subject till the latter end of the sixteenth century, when the
pretended reformers enlisted under two banners ; the one erected
in France, espoused the cause of Addition, and the other, in
England, maintained the side of Subtraction. Of the former party
a long account is given by Mersenne, in his Harmonie Universelle
(s), and by Rousseau in his Dictionary. These wished to have
distinct and invariable appellations for all the sounds of the octave,
of which Guido had only furnished six ; and after various experi-
ments, and proposals to the public, the syllable Si, about the end
of the last century, was universally received in France for the
seventh of the key of C. This new syllable is generally ascribed to
Le Maire, a singing-master at Paris ; but it was not received when
Mersenne published his Harm. Univ. 1636: for he there says (Q,
" that to avoid the mutations, Le Maire, who had published a
musical tract, invented the syllable za after la, to complete the
octave." Indeed the defect had been pointed out, and methods
suggested for supplying it, long before the time of Le Maire (u).
This method, however, provided for no transpositions, as ct whether
natural, flat, or sharp, is invariably called ut ; d, flat, natural, and
sharp, re, &c. So that the musical student receives no more
(s) Des Genres, lib. Hi. p. 192. (*) Liv. vi. 342. Art. de bien chanter.
(«) Zacconi, Pratica di Musica, torn. ii. lib. L c. 10, says* that Anselmo Fiamingo, musician
to the Duke of Bavaria, proposed the completion of the octave, by adding the syllables Si and
Bo. Zacconi's work was published in 1596,* and Mersenne (Quast. et Comment, in Genesim,
p, 1623) tells us from Maillard, a French writer on music, that an anonymous author in
Flanders, perhaps the same Anselme Fiamingo, proposed the two additional syllables Si and Bo,
for the completion of the octave, so early as 1547.
Gnido, Micro!, cap. 5, speaking of there being only seven different notes, says, "On this
account, according to Boelius and ancient musicians, we figure, or express, by seven letters all
our sounds." Hac nos de causa otnnes sonos secundum Boetium et antiques musicos septem
literis figuramus. "While some moderns less judiciously use only four characters, figuring each
fifth by the same sign" Meaning, doubtless, what has been already said in this chapter, that
some musicians used only four characters, in which case every fifth in the octave will have
the same sign :
/. PA.
* The first part of the Prattica di Musica was published at Venice in 1592 (reprinted 1596).
The second part was published in 1619, also at Venice.
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
assistance from it, with respect to the semitones in the other eleven
keys, than from the literal appellations used by the Germans.
Mr. Charles Butler, in his Principles of Musick, published 1636,
is the earliest English writer that I have read who mentions the
omission of ut and re in solmisation. "The perpetual order of the
notes in the Gammut," says he, p. 12, "as of the moons in the year,
is most fitly exemplified in that figure which has no end."
"These names," continues he, "though they are still taught in
schools, according to the first institution, among other principles of
the art ; yet the modern vulgar practice commonly changes ut and
re into sol and la : so that for the seven several notes they use but
four syllables ; which greatly hinder learners, both in singing and
setting. But let those who wish to retain this change, attend to the
following short direction: after mi, sing Fa, sol, la, twice upwards;
and la, sol, fa, twice downwards, which will lead both ways to mi
in the same clef or key."
Botempi recommends this kind of solmisation by the tetrachords
mi, fa, sol, la, to his countrymen the Italians (#); by whom,
however, it does not appear to have been adopted.
After the time of Butler, notwithstanding the censure just
quoted, which he supports by cogent reasons, the ut and re were
rejected by all the English singing-masters. For though the hexa-
chords had governed solmisation in most parts of Europe, from the
tune of their first arrangement till the latter end of the last century,
the English musicians differing from all others, exploded the two
last syllables, ut, re, and only used in their solmisation the remaining
four, mi, fa, sol, la ; which was reducing the scale to tetrachords,
like the ancient Greeks : for these moderns invented nothing new,
and only recurred to the very practice that was in use during the
time of Guido, which he condemned, and laboured to reform by
his hexachords.
Morley, indeed, derives all his rules of solmisation from the
hexachords, and yet when he exceeds their limits he never uses ut
or re (y).
But Playford, about sixty years after Morley's publication, says,
that "though six names for the notes, in singing, were used during
(*) P. 124 of his Storiadella Mitsica, published in 1695,
(y) A plain and easie Introduction to Practical Musteke, 1597.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
many ages, yet only four are now mentioned (z)." And Dr. Holder
[1616-97/8]"',* Dr. Wallis, and every writer on the subject of music
in this kingdom, were unanimous in excommunicating these two
syllables, nil the arrival of Dr. Pepusch, who endeavoured, and not
unsuccessfully, to have them again received into the pale of the
church (a).
The Neapolitans still adhere to the hexachords and mutations,
denominating every key-note with a major third DO, and with a
minor third re; and accidental fiat fa, and sharp mi. Mr. Galliard,
in his translation of Tosi on Florid song (6) gives the following short
and clear rule for finding the mi and fa in all keys: " Where flats
and sharps are marked at the clef, if there be no flat, that is fa; if
more flats, the last. If one sharp, that is mi; if more, the last."
Of the several attempts that have been made at augmenting the
number of syllables in solmisation, in order to furnish a distinct
name for every accidental flat and sharp, none have, as yet, been
generally received. The only addition to the six Guidonian
syllables that has been adopted, and that chiefly in France, is the
Si for the seventh of the key. But till every note in the system has
a fixed and certain appellation, no provision can be made for the
accidents of flats, sharps, and transpositions. However, the Italians,
in general, more frequently teach singing by the vowels than
syllables ; which they call vocalizzare instead of solfeggiare ; and
the friends of this method say, that too frequent articulation in the
first forming of the voice impedes its passage, occasioning a want of
steadiness in the portamento, and a convulsive motion in the mouth,
which can never after be corrected. Nice observers pretend to
discover this imperfection in singers of the Neapolitan school.
In 1746 was published at Venice a small pamphlet, entitled,
"Reflexions upon the manner of learning to sing, with a new
method of solmisation by twelve syllables, providing for all the keys,
and the accidents to which they are subject (c)." For those who
wish to retain the ancient names of the notes, with the additional
syllable Si, used by the French, this is an ingenious and useful little
tract ; as the author has so far respected what had been long
received in practice, that he has changed nothing: and the
additional syllables are only for such sounds as had before no
appellations assigned to them but what belonged to other notes,
which occasioned confusion, tautology, and difficulty.
The first six natural sounds from C to A, he calls, as usual,
utf re, mi, fa, sol, la; and to the seventh of this key he applies the
(z) Introduction to the Skill of Musick, eleventh edit. 1687, p, 2. The first -was printed in
1655 [dated 1654],
(a] A Treatise on Harmony, 1731. second, edit.
(6) Page 18, in a note upon § 12.
(c) Riflessicmi so$ra aUa maggior facilfta eke trovasi nell apprendere il canto con I'uso di
«» solfeggio di dodici monosillabi, atteso il freauenti uso degf accidenti. The author concealed
htmcpaf under the seemingly affected name of Euckero pastors Arcade, by which it was implied,
that he was a member of the Academy of Arcadia at Rome.
: and writer on musical subjects. He wrote a Treatise of the Natural Grounds
f Harmony for the g$g of the Chapel Royal members. For his compositions see
!- 7338-9-
47S
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
syllable Si: it is, therefore, only to the five short keys of the
harpsichord, which serve occasionally both for flats an.d sharps to
the long keys, that he has furnished names. The sounds in the
natural scale of C, by this means, retain their ancient appellations,
invariably, whether they are wanted for flats, sharps, or naturals.
C c$fy D dfyb E F /feb G g^ A a$b\> B
Ut pa Re bo Mi Fa tu Sol de La no Si
The author, to assist the memory of the musical student, has
formed his twelve syllables into four ideal words: Utpare,
Bomifti, Tusolde, Lanosi, which comprehend the whole scale
of semitones from C to c exclusive. By this method the names
of the sounds upon a harpsichord, or other keyed instruments,
are invariable ; and the several combinations of the six syllables
commonly used in solmisation, which, being calculated, amounted
in ascending and descending to 137, are reduced to twelve
immutable names.
This method is rendered respectable by the approbation of the
celebrated composer Hasse, and by that of Signer Giambatista
Mancini, singing-master to the Imperial family at Vienna, who, in
his admirable Practical Thoughts and Reflections upon Florid
Song (d), recommends it in the following manner:
" Upon conversing with the famous Signor Hasse, on the
subject of solmisation, when he was called to Vienna, in order to set
the opera of Alcide al Bivio, in 1761, he recommended a new
method of naming the notes, which he had seen used with great
success by the Canonico Doddi of Cortona; and upon my expressing
a desire to acquire a full knowledge of this method, he was so
obliging as to write to his friend at Cortona, who favoured me with
a copy of it, under the following title: Practical Instructions for
Solmisation in all the Keys of Music, without Mutations/' Signor
Mancini then explains the method just described, without appear-
ing to know that it had ever been printed; and concludes with
acknowledging it to be easy and ingenious, and that he himself
experienced its utility in practice.
Guido Aretinus has been mistaken by Mersennus, Vossius, and
others, for Guitmond, monk of St. Lufrid, in the diocese of Evreux
in Normandy, afterwards bishop of Aversa, who wrote against the
heresies of Berenger; he has been confounded by some Italians,
likewise, with Guitton d'Arezzo, the poet, and one of the founders
of the Italian language, who flourished about the time of Dante (e),
by whom he is celebrated, as well as by Petrarca, Redi, and almost
(d) Pensieri e Riflessioni pratiche Sbpra il canto figurato. p. 56, El Seq. in Vienna, 1774.
sotto il governo di Teaaldo Vescovp d'Arezzo, no della gran Contessa Matilda, a cui dedico
rofira sua; non e tero vero, cVei fosse lo stesso eke il nostro autore (Fra Gvittone), il aualc
viveva, nel 1293. Dedicat alle Lettere di Fia Guittone d'Aiezzo, Roma 1745.^ *^
479
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
"all the poets of Italy (/). But Signor Serra (g) has thrown such
doubts upon Guido's having been the author of the Micrologus, as
Signor Eximeno, author of a musical treatise, which is written in a
very masterly style (h), allows to be of difficult solution (z). For
Signor Serra having found in the Vatican Library, among the Queen
of Sweden's MSS. a musical treatise, entitled, Tractatus Guidonis
Augiensis, which corresponds, in every particular, with the Micro-
logus; he imagines the author of that famous work to have been a
native of Auge in Normandy, and not of Arezzo in Tuscany ^ as
has been supposed for so many centuries. But as no such Guido
appears in the annals of literature, either in biographical diction-
aries, or other accounts of writers of the middle ages; and as the
French have never yet laid claim to the Micrologus, or its author,
it seems a frivolous reason for depriving Italy, and the Monk of
Arezzo, of productions which they have so long possessed in quiet.
But as many writings have been bestowed on Guido to which he
was not entitled, it is not extraordinary that he should be robbed
of one to which he has so just a claim. As no mention is made of
the Solmisation and Hexachords in the Micrologus, Signor Serra
supposes them to have been the invention of some younger writer
than Guido Aretinus, and says, that " neither Gafurio, nor any
other author, who attributes the Hexachords to Guido, has ever
cited a single passage from his writings to confirm his title to them."
It would, indeed, answer a purpose to Signor Serra that
Solmisation by the syllables ut, re, mi, fa, &c. should not be
supported by such ancient and respectable authority as that of Guido,
as he had a new method of his own to propose to public favour;
which, with a few exceptions, was to name the notes in singing
by the seven first letters of the alphabet, distinguishing the fiat,
natural and sharp notes, by the addition of the three first vowels
to the seven letters, as ca, c flat, ce, c natural, and ci for c sharp,
by which means the student is disembarrassed from all the
mutations and every sound in the scale has a specific and invariable
name appropriated to it.
shqjfra
* T * -TT •*
(/) According to Crescembeni, he was inventor of the Sovetto; though it is the opinion of
the critics, that the Sonnet was originally constructed by the Provencal poets. The notes to
Fra Guittone's letters, and to Redi's Bacco m Toscano, famish a considerable share of useful
knowledge concerning the state of literature and the arts in Italy, from the thirteenth to the
fifteenth century.
($) Introdusaone Armonica Sopra la nuova serie de'Suoni modulati oggidi. Roma 1768-
(ft) See p. 423.
(i) "Porto di Guidons Aretino sitl commum sufiposto, ch'egli sia Yautarc deUe opere, che
gU vengono attribute; lasciando nel lor vigors f erudite prove, cottf qude ha messo »« duboto
mtel sttpposto 3 Signor D. Paolo Serra. Cantore deUa Capella Pontificia netta sua Introduznone
Armoniea." Dubbio di D. Ant. Eximeno sopra fl Saggio di contrapunto del Padre Martini, p.
88. In Roma, 1775*
480
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
This method had the approbation of several of the best masters
in Rome, who have signed a certificate of its effect upon the studies
of a young singer of the name of Benedetti, who was rendered
capable by it, in less than a year, of singing at sight any vocal
music that was put before him even without accompaniment.
Benedetti has since sung the first man's part in the operas of several
of the principal cities of Italy; and, perhaps, his genius may be
such, as would have enabled him to have done the same by any
other method, with equal study and practice. Instrumental
performers, at present, are not plagued with the ancient names of the
notes and mutations, but learn them by the simple letters of the
alphabet; and yet I have never heard of one that has been able to
play at sight in a year's time.
Upon the whole, the alphabetic names of the notes seem the
most simple and useful for every purpose but that of exercising
the voice, which is best done by the vowels; and it may be said
that to syllabize in quick passages is little more than to speak, but
to vocalize is to sing. However, I was told by a scholar of the
famous Durante, that while he was in the Conseryatorio of St.
Onofrio, at Naples, when the boys used to be tormenting themselves
about the mutations, and the names of notes in transposed keys
with double flats and sharps, Durante cried out, " Queste note
intonatele, chiamatele poi ancke diavole se volete, ma intonatele."
Meaning, that if they did but hit the intervals right, and in tune,
he did not care what they were called. And, perhaps, what Pope
says of different forms of government, may be more justly applied
to these several methods of singing: " Whate'er is best adminis-
ter'd is best." As in the use of any of them, whoever has the best
master, and seconds his instructions with the greatest degree of
intelligence and industry, will be the most likely to succeed. And
when we recollect the great abilities and enchanting powers of
many singers of past times, who have been obliged to articulate
every note of their solfeggi in the most rapid movements, we may
apply to the new systems what M. Rousseau said with respect to
their own (k) : " That the public has done very wisely to reject
them, and to send their authors to the land of vain speculations."
For innovators will always find, that a bad method, already known,
will be preferred to a good method that is to learn.
After this minute, and, perhaps, top circumstantial history of
the vocal alphabet, or solmisation, which was first suggested by
Guido, it is time, when I have fairly summed up the account of
debts due to him from posterity, to proceed in my enquiries
concerning the further progress that was made in the art of music by
his successors.
Though historical integrity has stripped Guido of some of the
musical discoveries that careless enquirers had bestowed on him,
(A) Diet. Art. Caractere de Musiqtte.
Voi,. i. 31 481
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
and though his claims to others are rendered doubtful, yet his name
should still remain respectable among musicians for the services
he did their art, in the opinion of his cotemporaries, and others
who have given testimonies of their approbation very soon after
the period in which he lived. These must be far better judges of
his merit than we can be now, wrho no longer want his assistance,
and are scarcely able to understand what he intended to teach. But
an obscure monk, whose merit could penetrate the sovereign
pontiff's palace, without cabal of interested protectors; whose writings
in less than a century should be quoted as authorities for musical
doctrines in parts of Europe very remote from the place of his
residence; at a time too when the intercourse between one nation
and another was not facilitated by travelling, commerce, or the
press, and during one of the darkest periods of the human mind,
since it has been enlightened by religion and laws; such a one
must have conferred benefits on society which cannot be esteemed
inconsiderable, since, in spite of all these disadvantages, they
could so suddenly extend their effects, and interest the most
polished and intelligent part of mankind.
It now remains, under the several denominations of Diapkonia.
Organwm, Discant, and Counterpoint, to trace the origin and
progress of modern harmony, which has been so long ranked
among the inventions of Guido. However, by the few specimens
of his compositions that have already been given from his
Micrologus, it does not appear that practical harmony, such as is
now understood by music in different parts, had made any con-
siderable advances towards perfection when that tract was written.
And yet such attempts at simultaneous harmony as he has
exhibited, rude, feeble, and indigested as they appear, are to be
found in treatises that have been preserved of much earlier writers.
Many ecclesiastical historians tell us that the organ was first
admitted into the church at Rome by Pope Vitalian, 666, the
same pontiff who two years after sent singers into Kent, to finish
the work which Austin, the first Roman missionary, had begun.
In 680, according to Bede, John, the pracentor of St. Peter's in
Rome, was sent over by Pope Agatho to instruct the monks of
Weremouth in the manner of performing the ritual, who opened
schools for teaching music in other places of the kingdom of
Northumberland. This may reconcile to probability some part
of the following account, which Giraldus Cambrensis gives of the
peculiar manner of singing that was practised by the Welch, and
the inhabitants of the North of England, about the end of the
twelfth century (I).
" The Britons," says he, " do not sing in unison, like the
inhabitants of other countries; but in many different parts. So
«~ (^ J^J^^l?reffi% ^^o?0' a°d afterwards bishop of St. David's, was born about
the noddle of the I2th century, and died after the year 1220. *wuu
482
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
that when a company of singers among the common people meets
to sing, as is usual in this country, as many different parts are
heard as there are performers, who all at length unite in con-
sonance, with organic sweetness. In the northern parts of Great
Britain, beyond the Humber. on the borders of Yorkshire, the
inhabitants use the same kind of symphonious harmony; except
that they only sing in two parts, the one murmuring in the base,
and the" other warbling in the acute or treble. Nor do these two
nations practise this kind of singing so much by art as habit,
which has rendered it so natural to them, that neither in Wales,
where they sing in many parts, nor in the North of England,
where they sing in two parts, is a simple melody ever well sung.
And, what is still more wonderful, their children, as soon as they
attempt using their voices, sing in the same manner. But as not
all the English sing in this manner, but those only of the North,
I believe they had this art at first, like their language, from the
Danes and Norwegians, who used frequently to invade and so
occupy, for a long time together, those parts of the island (*»)."
This extraordinary passage requires a comment. And first, it
may be necessary, before we reason upon the circumstances it
contains, to be certain of their authenticity. Giraldus Cambrensis
is indeed an author who has been often supposed inaccurate and
fabulous (n); and the glaring improbabilities in the above account
with the manifest ignorance of the subject in question, by no
means contribute to augment his credibility. For whoever is
acquainted with the laws of counteipoint, or with the first difficul-
ties attending the practice of singing in parts, can have no exalted
idea of the harmony of an untaught crowd, turba canentium, or
suppose it to be much better than the dissonant paeans of a good-
humoured mob; in which the parts would be as various as the
(m) In musico modulamine non uniformiter ut alibi, sed multipliciter multisqae modis el
modulis cantilenas emittuut. adeo ut in turba canentium, sicut huic genii mos est, quot videos
capita, tot audias carmina discriminaque vocum varia, in unam denique sub B mollis dulcedine
blanda consonantiam et organicam convenientia melodiam. In Borealibus quoque majoris
Britannia partibus trans Humbrum, Eboracique finibus Anglorum populi qui paries illas
inhabitant simili canendo symphoniaca utuntur karmonia: hints tamen solummodo tonorum
differ entiis et vocum modulando varietatibus, una inferius sub murmur ante, altera vero superni
demulcents Pariter et delect ante. Nee arte tantum sed usu longesvo et quasi in naturam mora
diutina jam conversot hoec vel ilia sibi gens hanc specialitatem comparavit: Qui adeo apud
utramque invahtit et altos jam radices posuit, ut nihil hie simplidter, ubi multipliciter ut apud
priores, vel saltern dupliciter ut apud sequentes, mellite proferri consueyerit. Pueris etiam
(quod magis admirandum) et fere infantibus, (cum primum a fletibus in cantus erumpunt)
eandem modulationem observantibus. Angli vero quoniam non generaliter omnes, sed boreales
volum hujusmodi vocum utunter modulationibus, credo quod a Dacis\ (al Danis} et
Norwagiensibus qui portes illas insults jrequentius occupare ac diutius obtinere solebant, sicut
loquendi affinitatem, sic canendi proprietatem contraxerunt.— Cambria Descriptio, cap. xiii.
(n} "Girald Cambrensis deserves no manner of regard or credit to be given him; and his
Chronicle is the most partial representation of the Irish history that ever was imposed on any
nation in the world. He has endeavoured to make the venerable antiquities of the island a
mere fable; and given occasion to the historians that came after him, to abuse the world with
the same fictitious relations."— Keating, part i. p. 13. Dr. Nicholson, Bishop of Derry's Irish
Historical Library, ist edit. Dubl. 1724.
t The word Danis must certainly have been changed for Dacis, by some careless or ignorant
transcriber; lor though the Danes so often invaded England, who ever heard of the Dacians
visiting this country?
483-
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
pitch of voices of which their chorus was composed. But how
all these united at last in the consonance of organic melody, and
the soft sweetness of B mottis, will long remain an impenetrable
secret (o): "As true no meaning puzzles more than wit."
With respect to what he asserts of the people in Northumberland
singing in two parts, it is more reconcileable to probability, from
the circumstances just mentioned, of the cultivation of music in
that part of the world under Roman masters, who may probably
have first brought over the art of discant, or double singing, which
the newly invented organ had suggested, by the facility it
afforded of sounding two or more notes at a time; which art, when
practised by voices, \yas thence called organum, organizare. But
as to what Giraldus says of children naturally singing in this
manner as soon as they were out of the cradle, the reader will
afford it what degree of weight he pleases; for my own part, I
must own that it is not yet admitted into my musical creed.
If, however, incredulity could be vanquished with respect to
the account which Giraldus Cambrensis gives of the state of music
in Wales during the twelfth century, it would be by a Welch
MS. in the possession of Richard Morris, Esq. of the Tower, which
contains pieces for the harp that are in full Harmony or counter-
point: they are written in a peculiar notation, and supposed to
be as old as the year 1100; at least, such is the known antiquity
of many of the songs mentioned in the collection. But whether
the tunes and their notation are coeval with the words, cannot
easily be proved; nor is the counterpoint, though far from correct
or elegant, of so rude a kind as to fortify such an opinion.
Some parts of " This MS " according to a memorandum which
I found in it, " was transcribed in the time of Charles the first, by
Robert ap Huw, of Bodwigen, in the isle of Anglesea, from
William Penllyn's Book (p)" The title given to these pieces, is
MUSICA neu BERORIAETH: and a note, in English, informs us,
that the manuscript contains " the music of the Britons, as settled
by a congress, or meeting of masters of music, by order of
Giyflydd ap Cynan, prince of Wales, about the year 1100, with
some of the most ancient pieces of the Britons, supposed to have
been handed down to us from the British bards."*
This music is written in a notation by letters of the alphabet,
(o) If by melodia organica he meant organized, or harmonized, melody, we may suppose
that the Cambro-Britons, in the time of Giraldus Cambrensis, had acquired some knowledge in
diaphonics. or discant; which, according to John of Salisbury, an elder writer, was practised to
great excess in the I2th century. •
(£) The name o! William Penllyn is recorded among the successful candidates on the
harp, at the Eisteddfod, or session of the bards and minstrels, appointed in the ninth year of
Queen Elizabeth, at Caerwys in North Wales, where he was elected one of the Chief Bards and
Teachers of Instrumental Song. Pennant's Tour in North Wales, 1773, printed 1778.
* This MS. is now in the B.M. (Add. MSS. 14905). It was probably written circa 1620 but
was copied from an older MS.
484
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
somewhat resembling the tablature for the lute; but without lines,
except a single line to separate the treble from the base (q).
In the notation, double // seems the lowest note; then the first
seven letters of the alphabet are written thus, gi, at,, bi,
Yh &h fa, fi', and the next septenary thus, with a dash over each
letter, /, J> &> T>> ~c> ~&> £• If these letters represent the same
sounds as at present, we find some such chords as are admitted
in modern harmony; but others frequently occur that are mere
jargon.
Many of the bases, or accompaniments to the melodies
6t
begin with the chord of C inverted: n These chords and
melodies are lessons for young practitioners on the harp; and are
said to be the exercises and trial-pieces which were required to be
performed by the candidates for musical degrees, and for the
silver harp. Among the first twenty-four lessons of this kind,
some few are easy to decypher, as No. XL and XVII. which I
shall give here as specimens of this notation, explained in modern
musical characters.
No. XL
m
m
(a) The lines made use of in the tablature for the lute, and formerly for the guittar. the
viol cfa braccia, and the viol da eamba, are representations of the strings of those instruments;
the letters imply the frets which divide the finger-board into semitones; and the notes over the
lines point out the time of each sound in the melody. The first, or highest string, is sometimes
A, in unison with the second string of the violin, and sometimes G below it. If A be the
pitch, the following is the accordatura, or tuning:
If G, the distance between the strings is the same: that is, 4th, 4th, 3&, 4*, and 4th, as thus:
435
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
No. XVII.
r r r
> 3-
si w 61 to
n n n n
V 9* P F
ft ft fi fi
V V 9 &
fo fa fa fa
W ft 81 ft
n * n *»
gi ffi gi fa
.» .» .» -5
/_ a 3. ^i.*^
r r
ft $1 &t di
n ri n n
fi fi fi
$ 9* &
fir Ar h ti
n $t fl n
gt to gi gt
— i '_a p*^
Hffffrfl
f
g fr j i-d-i^
After twenty-four lessons, or measures, as they are called, of
this kind, there follow twelve variations on a ground base.
£nn nnn
7 . • 7 'I
3i ^i _ % ^
486
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
This counterpoint, however artless it may seem, is too modern
for such remote antiquity as is given to it. The false 5th, from
B to F, in the first example, has not been long allowed in harmony;
and the unprepared 7th, from B to A, in the second example, is a
crudity that has been but very lately tolerated.
That the ancient inhabitants of Wales were great encouragers
of poetry and music, cannot be disputed, as many specimens of
Cambro-British versification of undoubted antiquity still subsist;
and that these poems, as well as those of ancient Greece and
Rome, were originally sung and accompanied with instruments,
is very natural and reasonable to believe; but that a rude, and
uncivilized people, driven into a mountainous and barren country,
without commerce or communication with the rest of Europe,
should invent counterpoint, and cultivate harmony, at a period
when it was unknown to the most polished and refined inhabitants
of the earth, still remains a problem of difficult solution.
I shall give a farther account of this curious MS. when I come
to speak of national music, and the establishment of musical games
or contests in Wales, before any other music seems to have been
much cultivated in the rest of the island, except the Ecclesiastical
or Gregorian chant, which the Britons, driven into the mountains
of Wales by the Saxons, seem to have been very unwilling to
receive from the Roman missionaries that were sent over to convert
their conquerors (r).
It will be much easier to trace the art of counterpoint in France,
than in Italy or England, as the French have preserved more
monkish records than either of the other countries. For the
Italians, who both speak and write less than the French on common
and familiar subjects, have besides had their towns and monas-
teries more frequently pillaged and destroyed by invaders. And
in England, at the time of the reformation, and during our civil
wars in the last century, every thing which had the most minute
connexion with Popery was devoted to the flames.
The first organ we hear of in France was of Greek construction,
and sent thither in 757, as a present to King Pepin, father of
Charlemagne, by the Emperor Constantine Vlth, (s). This
instrument seems to have been regarded in France as a very extra-
ordinary enchanting piece of mechanism; for we are told by
Notker, the monk of St. Gal, in Switzerland, a writer of the tenth
century, that Charlemagne, in order to procure another, sent
ambassadors to the Emperor Michael, at Constantinople, pur-
posely to solicit so precious a gift. And this organ, after its
(r) The British annals and songs ascribe, with great resentment, the slaughter of the
monks at Bangor, by Ethelbert, king of Kent, to the instigation of Austin the monk, on
account of their having refused to submit to the jurisdiction of Pope Gregory, and the
regulations he proposed.
(s) See p. 454. This feet may perhaps be rendered more worthy of credence, by the
assertion of Walter Odington, of Evesham, a musical writer of the ism century, who, in his
tract De Speculation Musica, says, that Anno Domini 757. venit Qrganum primo in Francum
missum a potissimo Rege Gracorum Pipinp imperatori. Of this MS. which is in Bene't Coll.
Camb. a more particular account will be given hereafter.
487
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
arrival, is described in such a manner as not to be mistaken.
Indeed it seems to have had imitative powers equal to those
produced by different stops in modern organs (t).
It is the opinion of Mabillon («), that " this instrument con-
tributed greatly to the perfecting the Gregorian chant in France,
as it is certain that the use of the organ passed from the king's
chapel, where that had been placed, which came from Constan-
tinople, to different churches of the kingdom, before it was common
in Italy, England, or Germany." However, the reception of this
kind of instrument into the church at Verona, during the same
reign, is recorded in some charters mentioned by Ughello (x)*
It may be supposed that this oriental organ was neither
imitated in its construction, nor used with any great skill,
immediately after its arrival; so that its effects in suggesting counter-
point could scarcely have appeared before the arrival of the
musicians sent into France by Pope Adrian at the latter end of
the eighth century. After which time, however, frequent attempts
at a bagpipe-kind of harmony are preserved in ancient missals
and musical tracts, of which I shall give some account.
The Abbe Le Beuf, who, in the year 1734, was appointed by
the archbishop of Paris to correct and superintend the chants in
the new edition of a breviary and missal for the use of his diocese,
published, in the year 1741, an admirable Historical Treatise on
Ecclesiastical Chanting, which he drew up while he was visiting
different parts of the kingdom, in order to collate MSS. and
restore purity to the corrupted melodies of the church. This
writer has neither evaded nor slightly discussed points of difficult
solution, but, on the contrary, has sedulously sought, and, with
no less sagacity and learning than diligence, generally explained
them to the satisfaction of his readers. Indeed, he is one of the
few writers on the subject, whom I have examined, who has
sought information at the source, and not contented himself with
the muddy stream of second-hand science.
With the assistance of this diligent and judicious writer, it is
not difficult to form a kind of genealogical chain, or series of
ecclesiastical musicians, from the time of Charlemagne, when the
Roman chant was first established in France, to that of Guido;
that, from the eight to the eleventh century.
Remi of Auxerre, the most learned personage in the Latin
church at the end of the ninth century, has left behind him a
Commentary on the Musical Treatise of Martinus Capella, which
is still subsisting among the MSS. in the king of France's library,
No. 5304. He acquired his science from Heric. Heric was the
(t) Addeuxerunt etiam iidem missi omne genus organorum, sed el variarum rerum secum
et pnecipue illud musicormn organum praestantissunum, quod doliis ex are conflafis,
follibusque taurinis, per fistulas areas mire perflantibus, rugitu quidem, tonitrui boatum,
garrulitatem vero lyra vel cymbali, dulcedine coeequabat. (De Carolo Magno, cap. 10).
(«) AD. I. 23. n. 28, 29.
(x) Tom. v. p. 604, 610. apud Do Cangram, Gloss. Lat.
* Organs were known and being made in England early in the 8th cent. Aldhelm, who
died in 709, tells us that the fronts of tbe pipes were ornamented with gilt.
488
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
disciple of Rabanus, and Hayman of Halberstadt, who had
conversed with the Roman singers sent into France by Pope
Adrian.
Hubald, Hucbald, or Hugbald,* a monk of St. Amand, in
Flanders \c. 840-930] , who preceded Guido more than one hundred
years, was cotemporary with Remi, and author of a treatise on
music, which is still subsisting in the king of France's library, under
the title of Enchiridion Musicce, No. 7202, transcribed in the
eleventh century. In this work there is a kind of gammut, or
expedient for delineating the several sounds of the scale, in a way
wholly different from his predecessors (y); but the method of
Guido not only superseded this, but, by degrees, effaced the
knowledge and remembrance of every other that had been adopted
in the different countries and convents of Europe. However,
the aukward attempts at singing in consonance, which appear in
this tract, are curious, and clearly prove that Guido neither
invented, nor, nide as it was before his time, much contributed to
the improvement of this art.
Hubald places the whole force of his diapkonics, or harmony,
upon fourths and fifths. The following fragment of canto fermo
has been already given, p. 432, as an example of notation, by Odo.
I did not then suspect that the syllables, placed over each other
between the lines, were meant as counterpoint, till I saw them
given as such, and reduced to common notes by the prince abbot
T / TRB SEMPITERNUS
x \
r /PA/ \FI v
& /
/ES\ V,v
T TV / ™S SEMPITERNUS
/ \ \ us
r i*l Vi *
T / \u \
ft y x us.
(y) See p. 433 of this vol.
and 433 with regard to this treatise. Probably the
lidered to be the work of Hucbald is De harmonica instit*
489
* See editor's notes pp. 432 and 433 with regard to this treatise. Probably the only
work on music which is now considered to be the work of Hucbald is De harmonica institutiont.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
of St. Blaise (z), who truly observes, that it is such harmony as
will not only offend the ear, but set our teeth on edge.
The good monk says, if to these two parts, two more are added
in the octave, the harmony will be complete: and then writes,
after his manner, the same fragment of melody over again, with
a very small change at the end in the accompaniment, which he
calls organum. Though it is easy for a professed musician to
divine what a strange effect such a combination of sounds would
have, yet I shall present it in score, for the satisfaction of others,
who may have a greater reverence for antiquity.
TU PA - TR1S SEM - PI - TER - NUS
R - U - US.
After giving this example, he grows bolder by degrees, and in
chap. xv. ventures to make a transient use of a 2d and 3d; then,
having feasted his ears with a succession of seven 4ths, he makes
the principal voice part, and what he calls the organum, end in
unison, as thus:
\
7/Z>/
/
\JO/
6
/
\
M
MS
\
z/
/ fljws /
TA/ TIM / \*/ so/
T.73& C&v to
j>/ /
TflTM/S fit / \ QU& /
«*»=
**1
[••I aj 1
Rex
coeli
Ooffiina
mans
*=*=
undi soni
B.J M H
Tytorus
• ni - ti - di
Soua-li-di
qua
sofi
* H
•W-M-
H ^"
w M M
*^^" "
•_
-M —
*
(z) De Uusica. EccL too. 2L p. U2.
*Xhe ckf in the lowest part of this example should be on the 4th line.
490
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
At length, growing still more daring, in the eighteenth chapter,
the question is, " How much higher the principal melody may go
than the organum?" And he determines the point, that while
one voice remains in the same tone, the other may wander about
at its pleasure. The succession of four thirds in the following
example, renders it more like music of this world, in point of
harmony, than any of the rest; and, indeed, a very few alterations
in the under part would make the whole fragment supportable to
modern ears.
te humiles, &c.
These examples will sufficiently shew the infant state of counter-
point, previous to the time of Guido, and enable the reader to
judge whether it was much improved by his discoveries.
No writer of eminence, on the subject of music, of whose works
we have any remains, appears between the time of Hubald and
Guido, except Odo, the abbot of Cluni, in Burgundy, whom
Mabillon (6) ranks at the head of literature and the polite arts, at
the beginning of the tenth century. He studied under Remi, at
Paris, and, among other sciences, applied himself so successfully
to music, that he was afterwards regarded as the most learned
musician of his time. He made three several voyages to Rome,
in 936, 938, and 942, where, it is natural to suppose, he acquired
a perfect knowledge of the Gregorian chant, and was initiated
in all the refinements that were then practised in St. Peter's church
and the pontifical chapel.
Some of his hymns, chants, and anthems, are still preserved
in the Romish church (c); and there are two copies of a MS.
tract upon music, of his writing, in the king of France's library
at Paris (d). They are in separate volumes, and both bound up
with many other ancient musical treatises. There is a tract of
great antiquity in the library of Baliol College, Oxford, which by
(a) Hubald, the respectable author of these curious specimens of crude harmony, was not
only a musician, but a poet; and an idea may be formed of his patience and perseverance, if
not of his genius, from a circumstance related by Sigebert, the author of his life, by •which it
appears that he vanquished a much greater difficulty in poetry than the Lippogrammatists of
antiquity ever attempted : for they only excommunicated a single letter of the alphabet from a
whole poem; but this determined monk composed three hundred verses in praise of Baldness,
which he addressed to the emperor Charles the Bald, and in which he obliged the letter C to
take the lead in every word, as the initial of his patron's name and infirmity : Caroms Calvus,
as thus: Carmina Clarisona Calvis Cantate Camcena.
(6) Ada Sand. ord. S. Bened. torn. vii. p. 126.
(c) Hist. Litter, de Franco, torn. vi. p. 235.
(d) Dialogus de Musica, No. 7211, with this memorandum : Codex membranaceus, olim
Colbertinus, partim duodecimo, Qartim decimo tertio saculo, videtur exaratus. And No. 7369,
where it has another title: Odonis Abbatis, Enchiridion de Musica.
491
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
the initial sentence, Quid est Musical I once imagined to have
been written by Odo; but am now convinced that it is the work
of Guido himself: for, upon carefully perusing, and collating it
with the extracts I had made from the Enchiridion of Odo, in
the libraries of the king of France, and elsewhere, as well as with
the quotations from it in the Musical Histories of Padre Martini
and the Abbot Gerbert, I find it to be totally a different work,
agreeing in nothing but the initial question. It contains instruc-
tions for measuring musical intervals by the Monochord, and a
Formulary of the Ecclesiastical Tones. It is given to Guido in
the Vatican library (e)\ and in the Saville study, at Oxford, there
is a printed copy of part of it, under the same name (/). It is cited
by Franchinus, in his Angelicum ac divinum opus, tract ii. cap. 2,
as " celebrated and followed by all musicians."
But the most beautiful and perfect copy which I have seen,
and which perhaps can now be found, of the scarce and curious
tracts upon music, by the venerable monk Hubald, of St.
Amand, and St. Odo, abbot of Cluni, subsists in the library of
Benet college, Cambridge, under a title which is not likely 'to
discover the real author of these tracts, and to the knowledge of
which nothing but the having seen them in other libraries on the
continent could have led me. I had long since been told of a
very ancient and valuable musical MS. in this curious library,
but was unable to examine it till very lately, when I did with
great care and satisfaction, as it contains the too most ancient
treatises on modern music, in which any mention is made of
singing in parts.
The number of this MS. in the excellent catalogue lately
published, is CCLX (g), where it is entitled Musica Hogeri, sive
Excerptiones Hogeri Abbatis ex Autoribus Musica Artis: " The
Music of Hogerus, or Extracts from Writers on the Art of Music,
by the Abbot Hogerus." Who this abbot was, or when he lived,
will not now be easily discovered.* His name has long puzzled
the learned: and I find, among the letters of Baptistia Doni (h),
that this MS. was the subject of a correspondence between him and
Dr. Thomas Rigel, of London in the year 1639 (i). Doni, who
had emissaries at this time all over Europe, in search of musical
curiosities, upon hearing of this extraordinary MS. in his letter to
Dr. Rigel concerning it says, De Hogerii abbatis excerptis (siq^t2dem
exstarent) brevia qu&dam specimina dumtaxat cuperem: quum
enim autor sit mihi plane ignotus, affwmare non ausim, an talia
(<?} No. 1196. Guidonis Aretini de Musica Dialogus. Quid est Musical
(f) Musica sive Guidonis Aretini, de Usu et Constitutions Monochordi, Dialogus; jam
dentto recognitus ab Andrea Reinhardo Nivemontano. Lipsicz, 1604. The tract, in Baliol college
library, •which is more than double the length of the printed copy, is transcribed in the same
volume as the Micrologus of Guido : Explicit Musica Domini Guidonis. Indpit Explanatio
Artis Musica sttb Dialogo. D. Quid est Musica? M. Veraciter canendi Scientia, &c.
(g) Codex Membranaceus in 4to. perantiquus, non gentis abkinc annis exaratus.
(A) For an account of this writer, see p. 491.
(i) Jo. Bapt. Donii Commercium Litter arium. Florentiae, 1754.
* Hogeri is one of the names of Otger the monk (see editor's note p. 432).
492
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
sint ejus scripta, ut totus scribi mereatur. — The Doctor, in his
reply to Doni, the same year, tells him, that after making all
possible enquiry in the library at Cambridge — Nullum Hogerii
scriptum in ea bibliotheca inveniri. — Whether this was true, or
only a short way of getting rid of the trouble incident to such
enquiries, I know not; but I find the book entered in the catalogue
that goes under the name of Dr. Gale (k), thus: Excerptiones
Rogeri Baconi ex auctoribus Musica Artis. It is possible that this
book may have been transcribed by, or for, this wonderful man;
and it is the more possible, as he admitted music among his studies,
and is said, by his biographers, to have written De valore Musices,
pr. Secundum Boetium et costeros auctores. However this may
have been, the MS. which is beautifully written on vellum, and
extremely well preserved, contains more than it promises; for the
two musical treatises of Hubald and Odo, both written in the
tenth century, are not given in fragments or abstracts, but entire,
and unmixed with the writings of any other authors.
And as they are scarce, and frequently confounded by those
who cite them, I shall be somewhat minute in describing their
contents. The Enchiridion of Hubald, or, as it is sometimes called,
his treatise De Harmonica Institutione* appears first in the
volume, and begins, Archytas vero cuncta ratione constituent non
modo sensum aurium imprimis consonantiis observare neglexit.
Verum et jam maxime intra Tetrachordorum divisionem rationem
secutus est. All is a la Grec in this treatise, and reduced to the
tetrachords, as the titles of some of the chapters will shew.
De pthongorum figuris, et quare sint octodecim.
Unde dicatur tetrachordum finalium et cater orum.
Quare unum solum tetrachordum sub finalibus et duo
Supra.
Quod distet inter authentos et minores tonos.
But the chief peculiarities of this manuscript, are the specimens
of counterpoint, such as have already been given under the title
of Diaphonics, or Organizing ; and the strange notation, of which
an example has been inserted, p. 431, from Padre Martini, who had
taken it from a MS. which was erroneously ascribed to Odo.
It appears, upon a careful examination of this tract, that the
uncommon characters used by Hubald, as signs of the ecclesiastical
modes, are likewise the musical notes with which he writes his
chants : and of these he has fifteen to express the double octave, all
differing from each other by some slight peculiarity. See plate,
p. 473, No. 3, where they are inserted, on account of their singular
forms, with the correspondent literal notation in present use.
This notation, and the appellations given to the ecclesiastical
modes, are so nearly what the modern Greeks still use, that their
(ft) Catalogi Liborum Manttscriptorum Anglia. 1697. FoL No. 1466. 189.
* Burney is here confusing two distinct works. See editor's note, p. 433.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
origin seems clearly pointed out. In speaking of the four authentic
modes or tones, he says :
qui et gramsswzws Greece Protos dicitur vel Archos.
X* Secundus Deuteros tono distans a Protos.
^ Teriius Tritos semitono distans a Deutero.
^x6 Quartus Tetardos tono distans a Trito.
These character, which are frequently used for plain-chant without
lines, have generally one of the two letters, T, S, at the side of each
to indicate the tones and semitones.
He has a chapter de Symphoniis, which inculcates the same
doctrine as Guido's chapter De Diaphonia. He says there are three
kinds of symphony, in the 4th, 5th, and 8th ; and that as the
combination of some letters and syllables is more pleasing to the
ear than others, so it is with sounds in music. All mixtures are
not equally sweet.
He then describes Diatessaron Symphonia, Diapente Symphonia,
and Diapason Symphonia (I) ; and, after giving examples in his
peculiar notation, of these three kinds of symphony, his next
chapter has for title, Quomodo ex Simplicibus Symphoniis alia
Componuntur.
This permission only extends to the diapason and diatessaron,
diapason and diapente, disdiapason, &c. or symphony in the llth,
12th, and 15th.
Then a circular diagram is given of their relations. Hubald,
however, says, that the most pleasing of all symphonies is in the
octave or diapason — Maxima Symphonia Diapason dicitur, quod
mea perfectior consonantia fiat (m).
There are many curious passages in this treatise ; but as great
use has been made of it already, in describing attempts at counter-
point, previous to the time of Guido, I shall only mention such
circumstances, and give the titles of such chapters, as will best
ascertain its identity with that in the king of France's possession,
and establish its existence in one of our own libraries, where it may
be consulted by diligent and curious enquiries into the state of the
arts during this dark period.
In this work I found the same diagram, with the same lateral
characters, as are already exhibited in this vol. p. 432. After which
we have a diagram of transposition — Modum unumquemque in
alium transmutare, ita — exactly the same as that which is printed
from P. Martini, at the bottom of the same page.
In his next chapter, the title of which is De proprietate
Symphoniarum, Hubald speaks of diaphonia and organum, as
synonimous with symphony ; and this is a full confirmation of what
(Z) The singing in a succession of 4ths and 5ihs was afterwards called in France,
Diatessaronare and Quintoier.
(m) Symphony in the octave Is still most pleasing to uncultivated ears; but how any ears
conld ever be pleased with symphony in 4&s or sths, is now difficult to imagine.
494
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
has been often advanced in the present chapter, " that neither
Guido, nor any musical writers of the middle ages, by the word
organum ever meant the instrument, or a part to be played on the
instrument, which we now call an Organ (n) . "
His next chapter is De auctiore Diaphonia per Diatessaron
ejusque descriptio ; to illustrate which augmentation, he doubles
each part in the octave ; that is, doubles the voice part and the
organum (o).
Then follows a description of double diaphonics in the 5th —
Diaphonae Auctions per Diapente ; an example of which is given
in four parts, to these words : Sit gloria Domini in saecula laetabitur
in operibus suis.
The title of the next chapter excites curiosity: Quod de his
Ptholemaeum sensisse Boetius narrat. — But this is only the old
dispute, whether the llth, or octave of the 4th, is a concord ; and
Hubald determines it against those ancients who refused it a place
ainong consonant intervals, asserting, that by doubling the parts in
the octave, a series of elevenths has a very good effect.
It is in the next chapter that he hazards other intervals than
4ths, 5ths, or Sths, and that he uses a transient 2d and 3d, both
major and minor. The title of this chapter is, Quo modo altiora,
modo submissiora loca Organum petat. The example of what he
imagined to be such licentious counterpoint, has been already given,
p. 491, to these words : Te humiles, &c.
In his last chapter,, which is an Eloge upon Music, he tells the
story of Orpheus's decent into hell to fetch his wife Eurydice ; but
says, that the moderns, confining their music to the praise of God,
pretend to no such powers. He therefore leaves to Boethius the
relation of its marvellous effects in ancient times.
We come now to the celebrated Enchiridion of Odo,* which is
written in dialogue, and mentioned with respect, even by Guido
himself. Incipit Scholium Enchiridij de arte Musica. The dialogue
is between a master and his disciple (p).
The diagrams and musical examples are all .given in the same
characters as those of Hubald : See plate p. 473. No. 3. His doctrine
of the tones, or ecclesiastical modes, is illustrated by innumerable
specimens in this kind of notation.
In this treatise, the barbarous and unmeaning words, in Gothic
letters, occur, which the Greek church used during the ninth, tenth,
and eleventh centuries, to characterize the modes or tones:
Nonanoeane, Noeane, Noioeane, Anoais, &c. of which the
(n) Nunc id quo propria symphonies dicunter, et sunl, id est, qualiter ecedem voces sese
in unum canendo habeant, prosequamurf Hac namque estf quam diaphoniam cantilenam, vel
assuete Organum nuncupamus. Dicta autem Diaphonia, quod non uniformi canore consist, sed
concentu concorditer dissono; quod licet omnium est sympkoniarum commune, in Diatessaron
Organici meli ponatur exemplum. Utpote si ad subjunctam descriptiomen duobus sonis
inter positas quarto loco in unum canendo vox voci respond eat.
(o} See p. 490.
(p) Pr. D. Musica quid est? M. Bene modulandi scientia. B. Bene modulari, quid est?
M. Melos suavi sono moderari.—'By the title of this tract, Scholium Enchiridii, as well as by
the notation and counterpoint it contains, it seems as if it had been intended by Odo as a
Commentary upon the Enchiridion of Hubald.
* See editor's note, p. 433-
495
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
abbreviations or signs are given on the left side of the specimen of
this species of notation, p. 432.
Terms like these are still retained by the modern Greeks in their
ecclesiastical music, as I find by Leo AUatius, and by the Abate
Martini's papers ; the intonations of the eight ecclesiastical modes,
for instance, are sung to the following words , Ananes, Neanes,
Nana, Agia ; Aneanes, Neanes, Aanes, Neagie: each beginning
upon one of the following sounds of our scale : A, B, C, D, E, F, G.
The entablature, or notation of Hubald and Odo, veiy much
resemble each other, as does their counterpoint ; indeed, these
ecclesiastics were not only cotemporaries and friends, but disciples
of Remi, monk of St. German d' Auxerre ; and Odo, the youngest of
the two, survived Hubald but twelve years (q).
The first part of this tract ends thus : Pr&ierea et grata Sym-
proniarum commixtio maximam suavitatem cantilenis adjicet.
And in the second part he proceeds to the explanation of this
extraordinary symphonic sweetness; which, he tells his disciple,
consists in the pleasing mixture of certain sounds, such as the octave,
5th, 4th, &c. (r).
Then follow examples of organizing in all its six concords, which
are only those of the ancients, 4th, 5th, 8th, llth, 12th, and 15th;
and in giving an example in four parts, where he doubles the
Organum and principal part to these words, Nos qui vivimus, they
move constantly in these intervals, unison, 4th, 8th, and llth.
The author next proceeds to give the ratio of sounds, and to
shew the alliance between music and mathematics, calling arithmetic
the mother of musical tones (s).
He afterwards treats of the proportions of flutes, or musical
pipes, to which he applies his harmonics.
The last chapter is a summary of the tones or modes of canto
fermo (£}; and here, as elsewhere, his examples are always in the
same hieroglyphic notation; NO/ A JNO IfEF AIfNE~ &*•
This last chapter is not quite perfect; the transcriber having
omitted some of the musical examples and diagrams. Only six of
the eight modes are finished. The seventh, however, is begun, and
not more than one, or two pages, at most, can be wanting to
complete these two scarce and valuable relics of the first essays at
modern harmony; which, however rude, uncouth, and barbarous,
continued in the church, without offending Christian ears, for more
than three centuries: for the monk Englebert, who, in the latter
{q} Hubald died in 930, at near 90 years of age; and Odo in 942, aged 64.
. (r) D. Symphonia que «*? M. Dulcis quantndam vocum commixtio, quorum tres sunt
sump aces l Diapason, Diapente, Diatessaron, 6>c.
(s\ Ita ptkongi in musica cujus muter est aritkmeticor-D. QWB sunt mathests
M. Anthmettca, geometnca, mustca, astronomia,
(2) Incipit commemoratio brevis de tonis et de salmis modulandis.
496
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
ead of the thirteenth century, at the instigation of his friends (#),
wrote a treatise on music, tells us, that all regular discant consists
of the union of 4ths, 5ths, and 8ths.
It has already been shewn that this kind of harmony, miserable-
and nauseous as it would be to our palates, did not offend Guido;
on the contrary, he recommends the regular succession of fourths
above all other concords (x), to excite and express pleasure and
jubilation. Nor do any advances or attempts at variety seem to
have been made in counterpoint from the time of Hubald to that
of Guido; a period of more than a hundred years.
Indeed, it is haxdly possible to examine the last specimen of
Hubald's counterpoint, without being astonished that no advances
had been made in the art for a whole century; for, with all its faults
and crudities, it is at least equal to the best combinations of Guido.
But perhaps Hubald's inventions or improvements never escaped
the confines of his convent, or, at most, were only published in his
own diocese; and, like the proposals of other ingenious men, whose
views are extensive, and who anticipate future discoveries, they were
not adopted or reduced to practice in his life-time. His idea that
one voice might wander at pleasure through the scale, while the
other remains fixed, shews him to have been a man of genius and
enlarged views, who, disregarding rules, could penetrate beyond
the miserable practice of his time into our Points d'orgue, Pedale,
and multifarious harmony upon a holding note or single base, and
suggest the principle, at least, of the boldest modern harmony. Odo
is the only one of his cotemporaries, or successors, whose writings
have come to my knowledge, that has imitated his notation.
In the Rawlinson collection of manuscripts at Oxford, of which
no catalogue has yet been published,* there is a didactic poem,
entitled Ars Musica, which though anonymous, contains internal
evidence of having been written by Gerbert Scholasticus, elected
pope in the year 999, by the name of Sylvester II. It is composed
in Latin monkish rhyme, except where such technical terms or rules
occurred, as could not possibly be reduced to meter.
It begins :
Ars est jam utilissima,
A philosophis composita;
Ars est vocata musica,
Cantus totius domina;
Sine qud nee differentia
Est vocum, vel concordia.
Quoniam (inguif) omnes discantus bene ordinati taliter se kabcwt, quod cant'w ' directo
™d l
(*) Semitoniwn et diajenUnon admittimus; tonura vero et ditonum et semiditonum cum
fon rect&mus: sed semiditonum in his infimatum. diatessaron vero Qftinet
cap. xvui.
. catalogue of the Rawlinson Collection has since been published. The MS. referred
to is Raw. 270.
Vor,. i. 32
497
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
At the distance of a page from this exordium, we have the
following proof that Guido was not the first who characterised the
lowest sound of the musical scale by the Greek gamma, and that
the author of this addition to the Roman literal notation was
unknown, even in the tenth century .
Gamma in primis posita
Quibusdam est incognita
Nam F. GrcBcum nomine
Non invenitur in A. B. C.
The following are the titles of some of the chapters : De Sym-
phonia facienda, De Qrganis, De Tintinnabulis, &c. The first of
these chapters concerns organizing, or diaphonia; the second
musical instruments; and the third relates to bells. One of the
succeeding chapters has this title, which points out the author of the
work: " Constantino suo Gerbertus Scholasticus." Now it appears,
that before Gerbert's exaltation to the papal chair, or even to the
see of Rheims, or Ravenna, of both which places he was succes-
sively archbishop, he was in strict friendship with Constantine,
monk of Fleuri, afterwards abbot of Mici, to whom one of his letters
is still extant (y).
What is placed as the last chapter of this little work is a separate
treatise, of a very few pages, under the title of Rhythmomachia,
or the Battle of Numbers or Figures, which is wholly unconnected
with music, but which is universally allowed to have been written
by Gerbert. It was composed as a kind of Game, soon after the
arrival of the Arabian figures or ciphers in Europe, for which the
author gives rules resembling those for chess. It is mentioned by
John of Salisbury [1120-80], in his letters (z).
Gerbert, who cultivated music very assiduously, regarding it
as the second in rank among the liberal arts, must have acquired
a considerable degree of reputation in it, as the authors of the
twelfth century give him the title of Gerbert the Musician (a). He
is said to have been as well skilled in the construction of musical
instruments as the use of them, particularly the hydraulic Organ.
William of Malmsbuiy speaks with wonder of the perfection to
which he had brought this instrument, by means of blowing it with
warm water (b).
We shall, now return to the ORGAN, with the improvements in
which, Counterpoint, under the name of Organizing, seems to have
kept pace.
(y) Epistote ad Constantinwn. Fabric, BibL Med. et inf. Latinit. torn. iii. p. 128.
{*} John Sarisb. Epist. Par. 1611. 4to. No. 235.
(«) Bern Fez. Anec. Tkes. torn L par. 2. p. 330.
(6) Malm, de Res. Aug. L ii. c. 10. p. 65. The application of warm water, for the
purpose of furnishing the instrument -with wind, may have been the invention of Gerbert
though* in all probability, he had followed the principles of Vitruvius in constructing the
instrument; and we may imagine that the invention of bellows soon took place of this
contrivance; for we bear no more of hydraulic organs after this period, except the wretched
contrivances so called hi the grottos of Italy.
Pope Sylvester II. whose life is written by the anthers of YHi&toirc Litteraire de la France,
who celebrate his virtues and abilities in almost every species of science died zocn after
filling the papal throne four years.
498
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
Muratori (c) says, that the construction of this instrument, in
the West, was wholly taken from the Greeks, who tried to keep
it a secret; and, according to some French annalists, George, a
Venetian priest, in 826, having stolen the model, carried it to the
Emperor Lewis the Pious. But it has already been related, p. 454
of this volume, that the organ was first brought into
France from Greece, in 757; and there seems to have been no
necessity for stealing the model of an instrument for those who
were already in possession of the instrument itself. The Romans
probably had it from Greece much sooner; for, during the long
intercourse between the Greeks and Romans, it is hardly credible
but that they must have obtained from them the pneumatic organ,
as they had the hydraulicon long before.
Cardinal Bona (d) says, that though organs were thought by
some writers to have had admission into the church in the fourth
century, during the Pontificate of Pope Damasus, yet the most
true and common opinion is, that this honour was first conferred
on those noble instruments by Pope Vitalian, about the year 660.*
But this good cardinal, whose work is much celebrated and quoted
by musical writers, constantly disappointed me whenever I had
recourse to him for information, he never mounts to the origin of
any use that has been made of music in the church, or acquaints
us in what it consisted. He takes his scanty information upon
trust from common authors, and seems to have compiled his book
in an easy chair, with the true dignity of a cardinal. I know that
he is much praised for the simplicity and sanctity of his life and
manners, in spite of the grandeur and luxury which surrounded '
him; but either his knowledge of sacred antiquities must have been
very superficial, or his indolence unpardonable : for, in the midst
of ecclesiastical treasures, and at the source of information, it was
natural, from the title of his work, to expect that he would have
had recourse to edited manuscripts, or, at least, oral tradition, in
order to throw a little light upon those dark corners of sacred
history which comprise the establishment of music in churches,
and its progress in them since that time; upon the first use of organs
and other instruments; the different notation of chants; extem-
porary discant, and written counterpoint; the state of the Roman
college, or school of singers, at the time he wrote; the origin and
progress of the sacred drama or oratoria in music, and the
permission of the eunuchs to sing in the pope's chapel, and the
churches in general throughout Italy. But of all these particulars,
interesting to a musical enquirer, the existence is scarcely
discoverable in a treatise, which he himself tells us, in the title, is
historical, symbolical, and learned; new, curious, and full of
erudition; and lastly, dedicated to the virgin Mary!
(c) Dissert, sopra le Antich. Ital. Nap. 1752. torn i. p. 277.
(d) De divina Psalmodia. Romae, 1653.
*See editor's note. p. 454. -
499
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
About the time that the organ was received in churches and
convents, the Gregorian chant began to be organized by voices, in
the manner which was afterwards called Discant; and the simul-
taneous correspondence of that harmonical series which constitutes
concert, or music in different parts, has been variously expressed
by writers on the subject, since it was first suggested. The most
ancient names given to it by Hubald, Odo, and Guido, are
Diaphonia, and Organum', and Discantus, Triplum, Quadruplum,
Diatessaronare, Quintoier, Motetus, Medius, and Tenore, are all
words that preceded the term Counterpoint. As those implied
singing upon a plain song, extempore; contrapunctum, written
harmony.
It is of such importance to the history of an art, that the
origin, etymology, and primitive acceptation of its terms should
be minutely traced, that I hope the curious reader will excuse me
if I am somewhat prolix in my endeavours to execute this part
of my work with clearness and accuracy.
The Greeks, so late as the time of Biyennius, the youngest of
their musical writers, who flourished about the year 1320, made
use of the word bia<po>vo$, faacpavia, Dissonus, Discordia, for
dissonance and disagreement of sound. The Latin writers upon
music of the middle ages, however, such as Hubald, Odo, and
Guido, to whom perhaps the Greek language was but imperfectly
known, applied the same term to a very different purpose;
expressing by it nearly what the Greeks meant by ovpycovos,
Symphonia, consonance, concord, and agreement of sounds. With
these writers Diaphonia and Organum were synonimous. The use
which the ancient Greeks made of the term Diaphonia, was to
express two sounds, which, when heard together, were discordant
and disagreeable to the ear; and the Latin musical writers applied
the same term to two concordant sounds, whose constant or
frequent coincidence rendered them pleasing to the ear. We must
except St. Isidore of Seville, who flourished in the seventh century;
for his definition agrees with that of the Greeks (e).
With respect to the term Organum, as used by musical writers
of the middle ages for a voice part, if we could imagine, when
the first organs were erected in churches and convents, that each
of them was furnished with such a stop as is now called the
Sesquialter, or any other compound stop, consisting of 4ths,
5ths, and Sths, thus : . &c. it might not
(e} Diaphonia, id est, voces discrepantes, vel dissonce. Nam Diaphonia semper contrana
est symphonies, cum Symphonia fit conjunct™, et Diaphonia disjunctio. Originum, sive
Etymologiarum. A passage from the Enchiridion of fiubald, cap. 13. De proprietate
Symphoniarum, will, however, shew in what a different sense he applied the word. Nunc id,
says he, quo proprice Symphonies dicuntur, et sunk id est, qualiter eadem voces sese in unum
canendo kabeant, prosequamur. Hac r.amque est qiiam Diaphoniatn cantilenam, vel assuete
Organum nuncupamus. Dicta autem Diaphonia, quod nonuniformi canore cpnstet, sed concentu
concorditer dissono: quod licet omnium Symphoniarum sit commune, in diatessaron tamen, ac
diapente hie no-men obtinuet. Odo and Guido use the same words : Diaphonia vocum
disjunctions*! sonat, quam nos Organum vocamus cum disiuncta ab invicem voces concorditer
dissonant, et dissonanter concordant "Diaphonia is the uniting different sounds, which we call
Organum, and which different sounds, though they agree, are distinctly heard."
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
only help to account for the introduction of such strange harmony
into the church as that of Hubald, Odo, and Guido, but even give
a probable reason for the name by which it was called : for, whether
we suppose singers to have imitated such sounds as every single key
produced, or such as were produced by the fingers from different
keys of the organ, it was natural to call the part which was added
to the plain-song, Organum, and the art of producing it, Organizare
The most ancient authority which Du Cange gives for the use
of the word Discantus, Discantare, is from Hugotio of Vercelli,
bishop of Ferrara, and the first definer of Decretals, who died
1212 (g). But a still higher and greater authority is that of Franco
of Cologne, who, in a manuscript tract, which I have now before
me, and of which I shall give an account in the next chapter,
defines and applies the word in such a manner, as to leave no
doubt of its having been in common use about the end of the
eleventh or beginning of the twelfth century, for singing extempore
on a plain-song. The subject of the fifth chapter of Franco's
tract on music, which is preserved in the Bodleian library at
Oxford, 842, f. 49, is Discant, and the agreement of different
voices. Here he defines concords and discords, and gives examples
in notes of the use of both in discant. I am not without my
doubts concerning the antiquity of Franco's tract, but have an
indisputable proof that it was written before the year 1283, at
which time his definition of Discantus was quoted by Marchetto
da Padua, in a musical treatise called Pomerium in Arte Musica
Mensurata; where the author says, Discantus sectmdum magistrum
Franconem est diversorum cantuum consonantia — the agreement
of different melodies.
" The Roman chanters/' says the Abb<§ Lebeuf (k), " that
were sent into France in the time of Charlemagne, had taught the
French this secret, who afterwards turned it to account." The
authors who had before treated the subject of plain-song the most
judiciously, were Hubald and Odo, the disciples of Remi; and
these, as well as Guido, speak frequently, in their treatises of
organizing. Hubald is very full on the subject in his Enchiridion;
and, by the long description he gives of it, there can be no doubt
but that some instrument had been used in the singing schools
to teach this organization; a name it must have acquired from the
assistance the voice had received from the keys of some small
organ, which had been found more proper than any other instru-
ment to keep voices steady in sustaining two different sounds.
(/) Organizare f according to Du Cange, is can ere in modwn organi; and, among his
authorities he gives the following definition from the Catholicon or Lexicon of John de Janua,
written in 1286: Organizare, Organo cantare; Joer ou chanter en orgres, organiser: to play
or sing like the organ."
(*) This author says, Decantare est valde cantaref discantare et excantare, id est, discantare.
An ancient manuscript Greek and Latin Glossary, in the Jong of France's library, defines it
Tepert£«, biscanto, facio tenorem.
(A) Traite Historique sur le Chant. Eccles. p. 73-
501
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Hubald speaks of many consonances, and gives rules for their use;
but it does not appear, from any thing he says, that these
concords were as yet used in the performance of the church service
(»•).
The most ancient proof which the Abbe* Lebeuf could find*
of this organization having been admitted in the public service of
the ritual, is a decree of Eudal de Sully, bishop of Paris, in the
year 1198; which ordains the responses of the first vespers on the
feast of Circumcision, and the Benedicamus, to be sung in triple,
vel quadruple, vel organo] the third and sixth responses of the
second vespers in organo, vel in triple, vel quadruple] and the
mass, the responses of the Gradual, and the Alleluja, to be sung
in triple, vel quadruple (k).
Nearly the same expressions are found in two places of the
Necrologium, or burial register of the church of Paris, quoted
by Du Cange, in one of which an order appears for the clerks who
shall sing Alleluja in organo, triple, or quadruple, that is, in two,
three, or four parts, to be rewarded with sixpence: in the other
it is said, that whatever four clerks shall organize Alleluja, on
the new festival of St. Thomas of Canterbury, shall receive six
deniers. The word Organum has been supposed, by father Dubois,
in his History of the Church of Paris, to imply a part composed
on purpose for the instrument called an organ; but Organum, as
has been sufficiently proved, was a general term for a single part,
or second voice, added to the melody of a chant, and synonimous
with duple; and such is its import in the following passage from
the same manuscript Necrologium, written in the thirteenth
century, which has been just quoted, where, speaking of the
establishment of a new festival, it is ordained the clerks or priests,
who assist in the performance of the mass, shall have two pence,
and the four Organists of the Alleluja, if they organize, two pence
each. The four singers of the Alleluja, are called Organists of
the Alleluja, because they organize the melody of it.
Now, to enable the reader to judge of the difficulty of the
task for which the singers were to be so magnificently paid, I shall
insert here two or three short examples of simple organizing by
two voices.
(t) Gey, a Cestercian abbot of the twelfth century, in explaining the roles of this kind
of organization, says, Si cantus ascendit duos voces et organum incipit in duplici vocef
descenderit ires voces et erit in quinta, vel descenderit septem voces et erit cum cantu. These
are plainly the concords of 5th and 8th.
(k) The words Diaphonia, Organum, and Discantus, at first implied, strictly, singing in
two parts: Organum triplum, three; and Organum quadruplum, four parts. These parts were
afterwards denominated and disposed in the following manner: If the plain-song, or principal
part, was sung by boys or women, it was always called Cantus; if by men, Tenor] if only one
part was added to the plain-song, in discant, it was called Organum, during several centuries
after the time of Guido: the third part was called Triplutn, Mcdius, or Motetus; and the fourth
part, Quadruplum. In the sixteenth century tnese were generally called Cactus, Medius or
Altus, Tenor, and Bassus. If more parts were added to the harmony, they were denominated
Quintus and Sextus.
502
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
In this example the first five notes are in unison, the next two
in major 3ds, and the last note in unison.
The following is another Alleluja, from an ancient Gradual, in
which only the two last notes before the final are organized in
3ds, which was all that the term Organum implied in France,
during the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
If at that time a chant was to be in triple, or organo triple, a
counter-tenor voice sung an octave above the first tenor; and if
in quadruple, another counter-tenor sung an octave above the
second tenor, in the manner already mentioned, p. 489, from
Hubald; and this is what was meant by the four Organists of the
Alleluja.
This manner of terminating certain chants still continues, on
festivals, in the provincial cathedrals of France; where, after
singing the chief part of the melody in unison, the penultima, or
last note but one, is sustained much longer than the rest in a third.
I have frequently heard it myself in that kingdom, but imagined
it to be done by way of flourish, or embellishment, by some ot
the priests, not then knowing it was a practice of such high
antiquity (Z).
The fear of this being thought a frivolous enquiry by many
of my readers, prevents my pursuing it more minutely; otherwise
it would be easy to prove, with the assistance of the Abbe Lebeuf ,
that in some French churches, where the organizing the plain chant
at a close has ceased, the organic, or additional part, has frequently
been retained in the melody instead of the original notes; and
(2) The vulgar fashion, which has long prevailed in popular singing throughout Europe,
of making a kind of flourish at a close, even among ballad singers in our own streets, produces
harmony without intention, or being heard by the performers; which is the case when two are
singing together, and one holds on the real note, while the other gives us a touch of his taste
in the way of riffioramenti, as thus :
503
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
this accounts for several changes, and, as the enemies of innova-
tion call them, corruptions, in the Gregorian chant. Others have
been frequently made in later times by Contrapuntists, who, in
adding harmony to the Canto Fermo, found the modulation either
too difficult, or too uncouth for their purpose.
The organizing chants in this manner, continued long in France
as a regale on festivals. Episcopal decrees for its use on such
occasions, are found in the ecclesiastical archives till the middle
of the thirteenth century, where, after the invention of a time-
table, a better kind of counterpoint was introduced. But before
this important period, it was discovered that the singing in thirds
might be successfully practised on other occasions than as an
embellishment at a close; and that even a whole chant might be
sung in this manner by two voices. An instance of this was
shewn to me at Sens, in a manuscript of the thirteenth century.
It is a Credo of the mass, in which the lowest part is the
Gregorian chant, and the upper part in thirds, fifths, octaves or
unisons. At this time fourths seem to have been out of favour.
No ^ name is given to this species of harmony in the MS. but it is
entirely of the same kind as that which, by Eudal de Sully, was
said to be in organo, and by others of the same period, in
duplo.
But, in after-times, this embellishment, or method of harmoniz-
ing the plain-chant, was called Discantus in Latin, and Dechant in
French, on account of its being for two voices, a double chant.
The rules for it seem to have been settled in the thirteenth century* :
they begin thus, in a MS. of St. Victor, of Paris. " Whoever would
understand discant, should know what it is to double (a melody)
when it is in the 5th, and when in the 8th ; and ought to know
what to do when the chant rises or falls. If it rise, he should give
the unison, if it fall, the 5th, &c. (m)." And this was the infancy
of what has since been called Counterpoint, or, in old English,
Faburden. If this species of harmony had its admirers, it had
likewise its enemies, when it was introduced independent of the
Gregorian chant, or when this chant was corrupted by it ; and if
many statutes remain for celebrating festivals cum cantu, et
discantu, a haute voix, a chant et a dechantt there are others to
censure the art, and keep it within certain bounds. It was thought
so licentious at the beginning of the fourteenth century, that the
use of it was prohibited in the mass by a buU of Pope John the
XXIL 1322. However, there is at the end of it this favourable
clause: " It is not our intention wholly to prevent the use of
concords in the sacred service, particularly on great festivals,
provided the ecclesiastical chant of plainsong be carefully
(m) "Quisquis veut deckanter, il doit premier scavoir qu'est quant est double, quant est la
qutnte note et double est la vnitsnte; et doit regarder se It chant monte ou avals. Se il monte,
nous devons firendre le double note. Se H ovate, nous devons $rendre le quinte note/' &c.
* There is, however, an anonymous work Discantus positio Vulgaris, which is supposed to
date from the middle of the i2tfc century, and in which the rules for Descant are laid down.
Amongst the progressions used are passing notes. Coussemaker reprinted this tract ^Scriptures
Vol. i. 94 b.).
504
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
preserved." The Abbe Lebeuf observes, that those who drew up
this bull, which is inserted in the body of canon laws, erroneously
confined discant to fourths, fifths, and eighths, from the perusal
of ancient authors on the subject of music, particularly Cassiodorus,
where they had found the following definition: Symphonia est
temper amentum sonitus gravis ad actttum, vel acuti ad gravem,
modulamen efficiens, sive in vove, sive in percussione, sive in fiatu.
Symphonia sunt sex: frima, diatessaron: secunda, diapente:
tertia, diapason. Quarta, diapason et diatesseron: quinta, diapason
et diapente : sexta, diapason et diapason. " Symphony, or music
in consonance, is the mixing grave sounds with acute, or acute with
grave, either in singing or playing upon stringed or wind
instruments. Symphonic concords are six ; the fourth, fifth, and
eighth, with their octaves (n)."
There are several curious particulars concerning Discant in the
writings of the celebrated Gerson, chancellor of the church and
university of Paris at the beginning of the fifteenth century.
According to him, the ground-work of all Discant was the plain-
chants ; and, in his Treatise upon the Education of Cxhildren for
the Choir of Notre Dame, he enjoins a particular attention to
chanting, counterpoint, and discant as the three most essential
branches of their instruction and study (o). He likewise tells us,
that in this cathedral, during his time, the choristers were only
allowed by the statutes, to practise discant till their voices broke (p).
The indefatigable Abb6 Lebeuf found, in the king of France's
library, the statutes here alluded to, which had been framed in the
13th century, and from which the chancellor had been ordered to
make extracts in 1408. He concludes the fourth article of his tract,
which relates to psalmody, by informing us that no written discant
was allowed in church missals or graduals, except for the exercise
and improvement of the singing boys (q).
Denis, the Carthusian, an old writer upon the duty of chanters
or canons, calls discant fraction de voix ; frittering the voice. This
definition seems to have been translated by the inhabitants of North
Britain ; for, in speaking of the improvements made by a person
who has learned to sing, they would say that the voice was finely
broken.
The same Denis, who was called the Extatic Doctor, gives a
pleasant idea of discant from an ancient life of St. Sebastian, in
manuscript, where it is compared to the curls, folds, and
(n) It is hardly possible to read this passage, and not give up the contest concerning
ancient counterpoint; or, at least, reduce it to that meagre kind, of which an example has been
given on p. 127 of this volume.
(o) Magister cantos statutis /tons doceat pueros planum cantum principattter, et
contrapunctum, et aliquos discantus honestos— decent and sober melodies.
(£) —ffec jadat eos tantum insistere in talibus, quod perdant in grammatica projectum;
attenlo maxime quod in ecclesia nostra discantus non est in usu, sed per statute prohibitus saltern
quoad voces qua mutate dicunter. The Abbe" Lebeuf understands these last words as I have
translated them : Le dechant n'etoit point en usage dans I'Eglise^ de Pans, et qu'au contraire «Z
etoit defendu par les statuts, au mains a 1'egard des voix qui avoient passe le terns de la
mutation.
Traite Hist, sur le Chant Eccles. p. 92.
(q) —Nee debet in cantu notulato regulariter imntisceri discantus, puens exceptis propter
exercttationem suam. Gerson, torn. iv. ultima edit p. 71?-
505
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
flounces in a female dress. It hides the meaning of the words, as
false ornaments conceal the shape and natural beauty of a human
figure. St. Antoninus, archbishop of Florence, in the fifteenth
century, distinguishes this kind of singing entirely from the
Ambrosian and Gregorian chant ; and says that he was unable to
discover how it gained admission into divine service, for which it
was very unfit, as it rather served to flatter the ear than cherish
piety and devotion (r). But if breaking the notes of the plain-chant
into melody in this manner with one voice, or in one part, while the
rest were singing the slow and simple notes of the original chant, was
so offensive to the enemies of novelty and innovation, how much
more would they have been disturbed in after-times, wrhen Fugues,
Inversions, Points, Imitations, and Divisions, were carried on by a
great number of dissimilar parts, all singing different words, from
which no more sense could be extracted than from a pack of hounds
in full cry?
The definition of an art at one period of time does not prove what
it was at another, of much more remote antiquity ; nor can any
idea of modern harmony be formed from what has been said by
Greek and Roman writers upon that of the ancients, or even by what
Guido, in his Micrologus, has said or done concerning the counter-
point of the middle ages.
Discant by the Italians is called Contrappunto alia mente or,
all' improviso. Padre Martini (s) heard this kind of harmony
a quattro voci produced in great perfection at the church of St.
John Lateran in Rome, 1747. It is called by the French, Chant
sur le livre. " To compose a part upon seeing only the chant upon
which it is to be built is very difficult, and requires," says Rousseau,
" great knowledge, habit, and quickness of ear in those who practise
it ; and the more so, as the key is not always so easily found as in
modern music. However, there are musicians in the church so
well versed in this kind of singing, that they lead off, and even carry
on, fugues extempore, when the subject will allow it, without
confounding or encroaching upon the other parts, or committing a
single fault in the harmony (t)."
An ancient manuscript, written by John Cotton,* has frequently
been quoted in this volume: and as it is the most ample, and
complete treatise, as well as one of the most ancient on the subject
of music that has been preserved between the time of Guido and
Franchinus, it seems here intitied to particular notice.
(r) Sutnma, torn. iii. tit. 8. carte 12.
(s) Saggio di ConlratfrtMto, p. 57, No. (i).
(t) After this kind of discant ceased to be practised in our church, it -was common for
musical students to exercise themselves hi singing upon a plain-song; and to play upon a
ground was frequently practised at the beginning of this century, which perhaps was not an
unprofitable study for young musicians, as it facilitated extempore playing. But then, as it
allowed no time for selecting notes or correcting errors, it obliged the student to accommodate
himself to imperfection of design and inaccuracy of execution.
* There are six known copies of Cotton's Work De Musica (Paris; the Vatican; ~
Antwerp, and two copies at Vienna). A seventh copy was destroyed in the fire at St.
in 1768.
* De Musica was probably written in the late nth or early izth cent.
506
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
Padre Martini, who supposed that there were only two copies
of this manuscript subsisting when he wrote the first volume of
his history, gives the following account of it (u): Two ancient
manuscripts of the same musical treatise are found in the Pauline
library at Leipsic (x), which, in the printed catalogue, is attributed
to Pope John : Joannis Pap& Musica ad Fulgentium Antistitem ;
and the other in the Jesuits library at Antwerp, which, in the printed
list of manuscripts in that collection, is ascribed, with, perhaps,
more reason, to John Cotton: Joannis Cottonis ad Fulgentium
Episc. Anglorum de Musica: and this manuscript having been
collated with that at Leipsic, appears to be exactly the same treatise.
Padre Martini quotes a long passage from the eleventh chapter (y),
to prove that the predominant and characteristic note of a chant
used to be called Tenor, from teneo, I hold, or dwell upon. Guido
uses the same term (z). In speaking of the high antiquity of the
intonations of the Psalms, which the good Padre Martini believes
to have come down to the Romish church by tradition from King
David, he says, " after all possible diligence, and the most minute
enquiry, I have not been able to discover any author who has given
the intonations in notes anterior to John Cotton, who, probably,
flourished in the twelfth century."
Another copy of this treatise has been lately found in the
Vatican, No. 1196, amongst the manuscripts of the queen of Sweden
— Incipit Tractatus Joannis de Arte Musica — dedicated to the
English prelate Fulgentius. Signor Serra (a), in speaking of this
manuscript, supposes the author was of no very high rank, as he
only gives himself the title of Servus Servorum Dei, and says, that
" as not only the saints and martyrs Ignatius, Ambrose, and
Gregory, have condescended to modulate the chants of the 'holy
church, but as others less ancient have been composers of music,
he saw no reason why he might not assume that character (b)."
Indeed, by the humble title which he gives himself of Servant of
the Servants of God, I should have supposed him to have been
a Pope; for this is the title that all the sovereign pontiffs have
affected since the time of the first Gregory; which has not escaped
the ridicule of Swift in the Tale of a Tub. Indeed, Signor Serra's
argument seems to invalidate his conclusion. As to an English
bishop of the name of his patron Fulgentius, no one is to be found
among all the prelates of the several dioceses of the kingdom.
Perhaps he was one that had been irregularly elected during the
contentions between the pope and the emperor, or the disgrace
(«) P. 183.
(#) Repositor. Theolog. I. Series 3 in fol. No. 10.
(y) Ubi supra, p. 377.
(z) Microl. cap. 15. Butler, in speaking of tenor being derived from teneo, adds, that
it was 'so called after the invention of distant, "from the ditty or plain-song in motes and
anthems being usually given to that part." Principles of Mustek, p. 41.
. (a) Introduz p. 113, 116.
(d) Cap. 17. Verum quia non solum prcefati sancti (Ignatius, Ambrosius, Gregorius},
cantus officiates in sancta ecclesia modulati sunt; sicut et allt non longe ante nostra Umpora
cantuutn compositores cxtitere: quid nos quoque cantwn vetet contexere non video.
5<>7
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
of one of our kings. As it appears by Dr. Smith's Life of Sir
Robert Cotton, collector of the manuscripts which go under his
name, that his family was distinguished and respectable so early as
the eleventh century, it has suggested an idea to Signer Serra, that
it was our John Cotton of whom Pope Alexander III. speaks in
one of his letters (c), issuing a mandate to the canons of his
convent, not to advance a certain person of the same name to the
dignity of abbot, on account of his having once embraced and
fomented the schism; " for though he was returned to obedience
and united to the church, yet if he were to relapse, as head of an
order, he might have it in his power to occasion greater disturb-
ance." But however that may have been, it is certain that his
manuscript is of higher antiquity than the time of Pope John the
XXII. by whom it has been imagined to be written, by some who
have quoted, and seen it quoted, as the production of John
Pontifex; for the author makes use of no other musical characters
in his Diagram than those that were used in the church soon aftei
the time of Guido, with sometimes a red, and sometimes a yellow
line; and with these ecclesiastical notes he writes the Neumce, the
invention of which he ascribes, erroneously, to Guido (£).
His treatise consists of twenty-seven chapters, of which I found
the first twelve complete in a manuscript at the Museum, among
many other tracts, No. 1297. Vespasian A 2. In his fourth
chapter, Quot sint Instrumenta Musici Sonit he seems to mention
the harpsichord and organ: In sambuca, in fidibus, in cimbalis
atque in organis, &c. But though cimbalo or cembalo is Italian
for a harpsichord, the author is here neither treating of that
instrument, nor the cymbalum or cymbal, which has been
described, on p. 405, of this volume, among the instruments of the
ancients, but of Bells. It seems, however, as if the first bells, which
were metaline vases, had been named cymbala, from their
resemblance to the instrument of percussion, so called in high
antiquity.
In chapter VIII. he explains a difficulty in Guido, not only by
specifying in a particular manner the intervals which were then
allowed in melody, and the concords used in harmony; but ascer-
taining both by the syllables taken from the hymn, of Paul Diaconus,
which are here applied to the first six notes of the scale, at a period
much nearer the time of Guido, than in any other musical treatise
that has come to my hands. John says, that the means of
materials for making melody are nine: The unison, semitone,
tone, semiditone, ditone, diatessaron, diapente, semitone with the
diapente (or flat sixth), and the tone and diapente (or major sixth).
(c) Martene, vol. ii. Registro Epist. Alexandri III. No. 384. Canonic. Remonstrat.
(<f) Neuma is a division or series of many notes sung without words at the end of an
Euotiae, i,e., Sacttlorum amen, an anthem, or AUeluja, as a recapitulation of the whole melody
Pf *o*d is frequently written pneuma^vad is supposed of Greek origin, m/ev^io, flatus. It is
defined by Gaffunus Jf«s. Pract. lib. L cap. *.-Yoc«m seu notularum umca respiration*
congrue pronunctandarum aggregatio: the aggregate of as many sounds or notes as can
^ not o£ Gua°'s favention-
508
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
Of these, six are called concords, and are often used together in
singing.* Then he gives examples of these intervals in solmization,
as Ut ut, unis, mi fa, fa mi: utre, reut: utmi, miut: &c. But
this twenty-third chapter is of most importance to the present
enquiries : its title is De Diaphonia, id est Organo. In this chapter
the word dissonantia literally means sounding twice, or a double
sound, not discord, ias at present — Diaphonia, inquit, congrua
vocum dissonantia — Diaphonia is the agreement of different sounds.
The whole is curious — After this definition is finished he adds:
Qui canendi modus vulgabitur (f. vulgariter) ORGANUM dicitur, eo
quod vox humana apte dissonans similitudinem exprimat
instrumenti quod organum vocatur. " This kind of singing is
commonly termed Organum, because the human voice in sounding
double notes resembles the effect produced by the instrument which
is called an Organ." This is a very ancient definition of the word,
and puts its meaning wholly out of dispute; and yet, in the title
to this chapter, as he makes diaphonia and organum synonymous
terms, he must be allowed to speak still more decisively further on,
when he says, Interpretatur autum diaphonia dualis vox sive
DISSONANTIA — " Diaphonia may be defined a double voice, or
sounding twice."
Several other ancient writers, and Franchinus among the rest,
agree to this definition (e).
When, and by whom the term Counterpoint was first used, it
is not easy to discover. Du Cange gives no more ancient authority
for the use of the word Contrapunctus, than what he finds in the
fourth vol. ConciL Hisp. An. 1585. But Franchinus Gafurius,
who wrote in Latin at least a century before that period, would
have furnished him not only with the word, but its use (/).
The term Contrapunctum, or deliberate and regular written
harmony, has already been explained (ff), and we have just given
an instance of its having been used by the Chancellor Gerson, at
least a century before Franchinus.
(e) The late Abbe Lebeuf, who was so profoundly skilled in ecclesiastical antiquities, but
particularly such as concerned sacred music, quotes the following passage from the records of
the convent of St. Martin de Tours of the year 1241 : Et debent organizare invitatoriwn, versiculi
responsonum et proses. In the orders for celebrating a festival in the thirteenth century at
Sens, he likewise found in the cathedral book these words, Responsorium cum Organo. "If books
were not decisive upon this question," says he, "it is certain that the reception of the organ in
churches was not sufficiently ancient for it to have been constantly used in the service during
the thirteenth century; and even since its general admission, it has never been the custom
to play upon it in the responses, the graduate, and Allelujahs, which are sung without
accompaniment by choirmen appointed expressly for that purpose."
Traite Hist, stir le Chant Eccles. p. 82.
(/) It was a considerable disappointment to me not to find the name of John Tinctor, an
excellent writer on Music, whose works are difficult to find, except in MS., or of Gafurius, or
Franchinus, for he is called by both these titles in musical books, either in Du Cange or
Fabricius. An authority so good and so ancient of the use of musical terms in the Latin
language would have been more satisfactory to the readers of Du Cange, than that of many
obscure monks which he is obliged to cite : and Fabricius, who so frequently speaks of
musical tracts and of their authors, might have furnished his work and his readers with a
useful and interesting article, in giving an account of Gafurius and his writings, which, being
chiefly composed in Latin, had a claim to his notice. I shall, however, try to supply tius
deficiency when I am arrived at the period in which he flourished.
(//) See p. 435, note (g).
* Whilst allowing similar motion between the parts, Cotton declares a preference foi
contrary motion. It also appears from De Music* that the crossing of the parts was a common
•part of the technique of the period. ......
509
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Among the Vatican MSS. there is a treatise on Counterpoint,
by Prosdocimus de Beldemaadis, written in 1412, of which farther
notice will be taken hereafter;* and one attributed to John de
Muris, on the same subject, much earlier, for he is allowed by
Fabricius and others to have flourished in 1330. This brings the
term Counterpoint nearer the time of Guido than any other writer
on the subject that I have been able to find.
It has been already observed, in the preceding chapter, that
music in the half-barbarous ages was in such great estimation, that
whoever cultivated letters thought it likewise necessary to apply
closely to music; and it seems to have been as disgraceful then for
learned men to be ignorant of it, as for persons of birth and fortune
now not to be able to write or read. We have already seen,
p. 452, that Alfred thought it necessary to enjoin and encourage
the study of music among liberal arts in his new university, where
it was ranked as the second branch of mathematics. The monks
and clergy in general cultivated it as neces^try to their profession;
but it does not appear that either the practice or theory of the art
was much advanced by all this study and application, at least till
after the Time-table was settled; for whatever trouble they gave
themselves in cultivating it, or whatever pleasure the practice of it
in their daily duty, as well as recreation afforded them, it is certain
that its progress was very inconsiderable; and however barbarous
and wretched may have been the melody and harmony of secular
songs of the same period, yet both seem always superior to those
of the church (g). The abbot of St. Blasius has given several
specimens of hymns in Biscantu of the fourteenth century, which
sufficiently evince the truth of this assertion; for at this period
the laws of counterpoint began to be settled, and thirds and sixths
to have admission preferably to other concords in a regular series;
but in the examples of counterpoint which monasteries and other
religious houses afford, we scarce meet with any harmony but that
of fourths, fifths, unisons, and eighths, used in that regular succes-
sion, which has been since prohibited (h).
That Melody received no great improvement from the monks
is not to be wondered at, as change and addition were alike for-
bidden in many of their houses; but not to have improved Harmony
more than they did for many centuries after its use was allowed,
is a just matter of surprise, when it is recollected that there were
several orders of friars whose vow and employment was Laus
perpetua, " perennial praise, incessant song"; and that others,
besides the canonical hours of chanting in concert during the public
(g) Music has, however, at all times made an important part of a priest's profession in
the church of Rome; and most of the treatises on the subject have been the productions of
ecclesiastics. In our church, indeed, its culture and encouragement have long been alike
circumscribed: for the choral Dart of the service in many of our cathedrals being generally
consigned to laymen of no very high rank in the community, who from the scantiness of
their stipend are obliged to exercise other professions, it has not only impeded their improve-
ment, but thrown music itself into contempt and ignominy.
(h) See Gerb. vol. i. p. 456 ft alibi.
*-Bora at Padua and became a professor at the university there (c. 1400). He wrote
several musical treatises which were published between 1404-13. •
5X0
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
celebration of their religious rites, were allowed to sing in their
cells (z) : and yet to the present time, even in the churches and
convents of Italy, whenever it is thought necessary to attract a
secular crowd, by a Gran Funzione, recourse is constantly had to
the talents of the laity.
Indeed the first essays we meet with in Simultaneous Harmony
in ancient missals and in the writings of Guido, are such
as do but little honour to the inventor; for there is no melody so
simple or uncouth that would not be more injured than embellished
by such an accompaniment.
Much time was spent in the beginning of this work (k) to
furnish proofs of the ancients having being utterly ignorant of
counterpoint; but none then occurred equally cogent with those
which the rude essays in that art by Guido, and succeeding
musicians of the middle ages have left us. In these we not only see
unisons, octaves, fourths, and fifths, in succession, which were
interdicted by subsequent harmonical laws, but the first introduc-
tion of thirds as concords. The learned Abbot Gerbert, who
examined all the manuscript missals, graduate, rituals, and liturgies
of the principal libraries, monasteries, and religious houses cf
Europe, has been able to find in them no examples of more early
or better essays of Simultaneous Harmony. These were censured
at first as innovations, and while the new art of Counterpoint
was extending its limits and forming its code from new com-
binations of sounds, great scandal was given to piety, simplicity,
and ancient usages: and complaints having been made to Pope
John XXII. that " by the abuse of Discant, the principals of the
Antiphonary and Gradual were so much contemned as to render it
impossible for the singers to know upon what foundation their
meladies were constructed; and that they manifest such ignorance
in the tones or modes of the church as to neglect all distinction and
exceed the bounds that had been prescribed to each "; a Bull was
issued at Avignon by the advice of the Conclave, about the year
1322, to suppress these licences under very severe penalties (Z).
(0 The ecclesiastics among our Saxon ancestors, as Junius informs us (Glossar. Goth: Edit.
Amstel, p. 366. v. Underminat.), had a particular song, psalm, or hymn, for each of the
canonical hours : as Daybreak Song; Matins Song, third Song, or Song for the third hour of the
day; Mid-day Song; Song far the ninth hour'. Even Song, or Vespers; and Midnight Song.
(This is confirmed by Bece, lib. v. c. 2.)
(fc) See Dissert, p. 105 et seq.
(1) The original is curious, as it furnishes an example of the use of several musical terms
of the middle ages which are now difficult to comprehend. I shall therefore insert the whole
passage from the body of Canon Laws. (Doctor Sanctorum Extravag. commun. lib. iii.)
Nounulli novella schoue discipttli, dum temporibus mensurandis invigUant, novis notis intendunt,
fingere suas, quam antiquas eantare malunt, in semibreves et minimas ecclesiastica cantantur,
notulis percutiuntur; nam melodias hoquetis intersecant, DISCANTTBUS lubricant, triplis et motetis
vulgaribus nonnunquam inculcant, adeo ut interdum Antiphonarii et Graduahs fundamento
despiciant, ignorent super quo adificant; tonos nesciant; quos non discernunt, imo confundunt :
cum ex earum multitudine notarum, ascensiones pudicce, descensionesque iemperata plani-cantus,
quibus toni ipsi secernuntur, ad invicem obfuscentur.
In this passage, though Discanters are accused of using such rapid notes as semibreves and
minims, which are here called new notes of their own invention, yet it appears that they were
in common use before 1333, when it was imagined by some writers that they had been
invented by John de Muris. The term Hoquetus, Hochetus, vel Hocetus, used likewise in the
tract falsely ascribed to Bede, seems here to imply a fantastical division, which by the
sudden leaps, and breaks, or discontinuity of voice, resembled a. hiccup in French hoquet.
"They intersect the melodies with hoquetsf slide about in distant, and sometimes even crowd
and load the chants with vile third and fourth parts, Triplis et motetis vulgaribus"
5"
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Indeed this irreverend kind of singing in the church had been
severely reprehended by John of Salisbury more than 150 years
before. " The rites of religion/' says he, " are now profaned by
music: and it seems as if no other use were made of it than to
corrupt the mind by wanton modulations, effeminate inflexions,
and frittered notes and periods, even in the Penetralia, or awful
sanctuary itself. The stupid crowd, delighted with all these
vagaries, imagine they hear a concert of Sirens, in which the
performers strive to imitate the notes of nightingales and parrots,
not those of men; sometimes descending to the bottom of the scale,
sometimes mounting to the summit; now softening and now enforc-
ing the tones, repeating passages, mixing in such & manner the
grave sounds with the more grave, and the acute with the most
acute, that the astonished and bewildered ear is unable to distin-
guish one voice from another (m)."
It appears from these passages, that Discant was used at the
time they were written, not only to imply Harmony in duplo, or
singing in two parts, according to its strict and original sense, but
for the graces, broderies, and flourishes of florid song. And after
vaiying the plain-song a little, in order to produce a few different
concords, the chanters, probably, proceeded to more licentious
alterations ; and it seems as if Discant at length suggested the idea
of florid melody, yet such as was at first thought consistent with the
solemnity and simplicity of church music.
But to what excess this afterwards grew appears by a small book
\\hich I brought from Italy, that was published at Rome, 1615, by
Fran. Seven Perugino, a singer in the Pope's chapel, and dedicated
to Cardinal Borghese. It is very neatly engraved upon copper-
plates, and contains such fashionable graces and embellishments
for every kind of voice as were then allowed to be used even in the
pontifical chapel, when the ecclesiastical tones were sung in parts
(#). This book contains passages in notes tied twice, and often
three times, that would be too rapid and difficult for many opera
singers now of the first abilities, and such as musical methodists,
from their absurdity and impropriety, would with good reason call
Lenocinia of the church of Rome (o).
There is no sense so liable to prejudice in favour of habitual
feelings as the ear ; and yet the favourite musical phrases of one
(m) Musica cultum religionis incestat, quod ante conspectum Domini, in ipsis penetralibus
sanctuarii, lascivientis vocis luxu, quadam ostentations sui, muliebribus modis notularum
articulorumque casuris, stupentes animulas emplKre nituntur. Cum pracinentium, et
succtnentium, cancntium, et decinentium, intercinentium, et occinentium, preemoUes modulations*
audieris, Sirenarum concentus credos esset non hominumt et de vocum facilitate miraberius
q-uibus Philomela vel psittacus, aut si quid sonorius estt modos suos neaueunt cocequare. Ea
siquidem est ascendendi descendendique faciKtas; ea sectio vel gemtnatio notutarum, ea
replicatio articulorum, singulorumque consolidatio; sic acuta vel acutissima, gravibus et
subgravibus temperantur, ut auribus sui indicii fere subtrahatur autoritas. Policraticus, five de
Nugis Corialium, lib. i. c. 6.
(») Salmi passaggiati per tutte le voci, netta maniera eke si cantano in Roma sopra i falsi
ecclesiastici; da cantarsi ne i vespri della Domenica e detti gtorni
bordoni di tuttt i tuoni ecclesiastici; da cantarsi ne i vespri della Domenica e detti gu>rni
jestivi di tutto ? anno, con akuni versi di miserere sopra il falso bordone del Dentice. Canposti
da Francesco Seven Perugino Cantors netta Cappella di N. S. Papa Paolo V. In Roma,
uL. JJ» C. XT.
(o) Writing down graces is like recording the nonsence and impertinence of conversation
which, bad at first, is rendered more and more insipid and absurd as the times, manners, and
occasions which produced it, become more distant.
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
age are detestable to another. But it is only the refinements of
cultivated music that are fluctuating and evanescent; for the people
of every country are partial to their national music, be it ever so
wild, uncouth, and barbarous : and it has never been found that
European refinements in melody, or learning in harmony, have,
at first, pleased the inhabitants of other parts of the globe.
FRANCO of Cologn, so early as the eleventh century, according
to the authors of L'Hist. Lin. de la France (p), made considerable
advances in the art of Discant: and in a small tract, written
expressly on the subject (q), which is preserved in the Bodleian
library at Oxford (r), and of which I have now a transcript before
me, enlarged its code by the introduction of new concords, and the
addition of new precepts for their use. That the curious reader may
be enabled to judge of the state of harmony at this early period, so
soon after the time of Guido, I shall give an abstract of his rules.
Franco uses the word Organum in the same sense as Guido,
though the term Diaphonia never voccurs in his writings. Every
theorist in these early periods of Discant seems to have had his
peculiar prejudices for and against certain concords and discords
which appear now to be very whimsical and capricious. Guido,
for instance (s) forbids the use of the 5th in harmony equally with
the semitone or flat 2d ; but recommends the admission of the
major and minor 3ds, and frequently uses the major 2d and the 4th.
Franco, on the contrary, admits the 5th among the concords, but
ranks the two 6ths, major and minor, among the discords. He
divides concords into three classes ; perfect imperfect mean : of this
last kind are the 4th and 5th, which, though less perfect than the
unison and octave, are more pleasing to the ear than the two 3ds,
which he is the first author of my acquaintance who calls imperfect.
He likewise divides discords into perfect and imperfect. Of the
first class are the flat 2d, sharp 4th, sharp 5th, and sharp 7th,
which, says he, the ear is unable to tolerate. Of the second class
are the tone with the diapente, or major 6th, and the semitone
with the diapente, or minor 6th : these, says he, though displeasing
to the ear, may be borne in discant.*
His division of concords into perfect, imperfect, and middle,
is curious. But his media consonantioe seem evidently the
paraphoni of the Greek musicians, which he might have found
either in Boethius, whom he mentions cap. i, or other Latin com-
pilers from the Greek theorists. Franco's definitions of concord
(£) Tome viii. par. 1747.
(q) Compendium de Discantu, tnbus capitibus. I have met with the term Discantus in
no other author of equal antiquity with Franco.
(r) 2575- 60. 4 [MS. Bod. 842, 1 60]. (s) Microl. cap. xviii.
*The correct classification of the discords is:
Perfect : Semitone, augmented 4th, diminished 5th, minor 6th, and major 7th.
Imperfect: Tone, major 6th and minor 7th.
Franco writes that the descant may start at the interval of a 4th, or major or minor 3rd from
the principal part. It could also begin at the unison, octave or jth. A concord should always
be taken on the accented notes (i.e., the first of the bar in modern notation). He also expresses
a preference for contrary motion.
Similar roles are to be found in most of the theoretical writers of the time,
VOI,. i. 33. 513
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
and discord likewise savour of Greek origin (t). He recommends,
however, the mixture of imperfect concords with the perfect («),
which was afterwards formed into an invariable rule against the
succession of two Sths or two Sths in a regular series. He informs
us wrhich intervals are discordant, without giving examples of their
use ; and indeed the science of plain and pure harmony was long
known before rules were framed for the Preparation and Resolution
of Discords.
As Franco is the next Harmonist in point of time to Guido,
we may regard his deviations from the Micrologus as discoveries.
And besides his improvements in counterpoint, the notation of his
examples, had it not suffered so much by transcribers, would have
astonished us by its method and clearness ; for no improvements
seem to have been made in it for several centuries after.
When he writes in four parts he in general allows a staff of twenty
lines for them ; of which, under the fifth from the top is written the
word Quadruplum ; under the tenth Triplum discantus ; and under
the fifteenth Medius. So that the remaining five lines must have
been for the Tenor, or plain-song. Each of these parts has a clef
allotted to it ; and this notation, by means of four or five lines and
spaces for each part, was a great improvement of the Tablature of
Guido, consisting only of one red, or one yellow line for the clefs of
F or C, leaving the rest of the notes to be divined by their station
above or below these claves signatce. Whatever changes have been
made in the form of musical notes since the time of Franco, the lines
and spaces used as their receptacles continue still the same, without
augmentation or diminution ; four in the missals of the Romish
church, and five for secular music.
Most of the examples, however, of written discant, in Franco's
first tract, by which he intended to convey his meaning to musical
students, are so miserably dislocated and erroneous in the Oxford
manuscript, as to be utterly irrecoverable ; and in the second tract,
though the lines have been prepared for the reception of examples
to illustrate his Nine Rules of Discant, yet they have been all omitted
by the transcriber. So that we have no other way of judging what
progress he had made in practical harmony but by his precepts.
I tried, with all the penetration and critical sagaciiy I could muster,
to decipher one of his specimens of counterpoint, in order to shew
the musical reader how superior his manner of interweaving
imperfect concords with the perfect was to that of his predecessors,
and do firmly believe it to be nearly the following:
a «H.».,I Jj
n
r
(f) Vide Gandent Ace. of qapa^cwoi, p. n Euclid's Defin. of Concord and Discord, &c.
Zariino, Istit Harm, part iiL cap. 7» p. 109, talks of the 5th and 4th as being Mezanetra. le
consonanze perfette et le imperfette, &c.
(it) — Debet tame* semiditonum atquc ditonum cotnnnsccre quando unisonus vel diapenU
convenientissime fossit subsequi.
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
Though this fragment may neither please nor instruct the modern
Contrapuntist, yet, whoever compares it with the compositions of
Hubald, Odo, and Guido, must regard it with wonder.
Thus far Melody and Harmony, since the establishment of
the Christian religion, had been cultivated for the use of the church :
for though Franco has left a treatise on Measured Music, and
Florid Counterpoint, yet his examples of Discant are all in diatonic
intervals; and the words which he has placed under his melodies
are wholly fragments of Psalms or ecclesiastical Hymns. Indeed,
cap. 5, he just mentions, Discantum in cantilenis Rondellis*
" Discant to airs called Roundelays/' which continued long in
favour, and gave birth to the present Rondeaux (x).
But concerning the obligations which music had to Franco, as
I shall have occasion to speak more fully in the next chapter, I
shall take my leave of him for the present, and introduce to the
acquaintance of my readers an Englishman, of whose writing a
treatise is preserved in the library of Benet college, Cambridge,
that is so copious and complete, with respect to every part of
music which was known when it was written, that if aU other
musical tracts hitherto mentioned, from the time of Boethius to
Franco and John Cotton, were lost, our knowledge would not be
much diminished, provided this manuscript were accessible.
WALTER ODINGTON, monk of Evesham in Worcestershire, the
author of this work, was eminent in the early part of the thirteenth
century, during the reign of Henry the Third, not only for his
profound knowledge in music, but astronomy, and mathematics in
general.* The translator and continuator of Dugdale's Monasticon,
speaks of him among learned Englishmen of the order of St.
Benedict in the following manner:
" Walter, monk of Evesham, a man of a facetious wit, who
applying himself to literature, lest he should sink under the labour
of the day, the watching at night, and continual observance of
regular discipline, used at spare hours to divert himself with the
decent and commendable diversion of music, to render himself
the more cheerful for other duties." This apology, however, for
the time he bestowed on music, was needless; for it was, and is
still, so much the business of a Romish priest, that to be ignorant
of it disqualifies him for his profession. And at all times, where
an ecclesiastic thought it necessary to trace the whole circle of the
(x) The French poets call an orbicular rhythm in poetry a Rondeau, and the Spaniards
confine the term Rondelet to a circular air or melody, of which the first strain is repeated
after the 2d and 3d; and indeed after every excursion into new melodies and modulations.
* Burney, in confusing Walter Odington of Evesham with Walter de Einesham, whose claim
to the See of Canterbury was disallowed by the Pope in 1228, assigns too early a date for him.
He could hardly have been born before the middle of the isth cent, as in 1316 his name is
included in a list of mathematicians who were living at Oxford in that year. He is known to
have been alive in 1330, when he was at Merton College, Oxford.
The only known copy of De Speculatione Musica is at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
It is said that at one time there was another copy in the Cotton MSS., the relics of which are
now in the B.M.
De Speculations Music* was reprinted by Coussemaker in 1864 (Scnbtores* Vol. i). The
minim appears to be mentioned for the first time in this treatise^-"/** Semibrevem primo "divide
in ires Cartes quos Minimas voca, Figuras retinens Semibrwi$* ne $& aUk musicis videar,
** - • •
515
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
sciences, music having the second or third rank, could not be
neglected. But what this author adds farther concerning Odington
is still less defensible: " Whether/' says he, " this application to
music drew him off from other studies I know not, but there
appears no other work of his than a piece entitled Of the Specula-
tion of Musick." Yet we are told by Pits, Bale, Tanner, Moreri,
and all his biographers, that he wrote De Motibus Planetarum,
et de Mutatione Aeris, as well as on other learned subjects.
As Walter Evesham lived in a period which furnishes but
few records concerning the state of music in England, and as I am
unacquainted with any other copy of his manuscript than that
which subsists in Cambridge, I shall be somewhat the more minute
in describing its contents, and pointing out its peculiarities (y).
The first page, only, has been injured by time, and some
vacuities have been left by the scribe, which seem intended to
have been filled up with red ink. The work is divided into six
parts, or books.
The first, De Inequalitate Numerorum et eorum habitudine,
contains ten chapters, on the division of the scale, and harmonica!
proportions.
The second part consists of eighteen chapters. In the intro-
duction to this part he calls the concords Symphonies (z}> which
is frequently the language of Hubald, Odo, and Guido. The
first chapter is a Eulogium upon Music, in which he enumerates
the nine Muses and their attributes; speaks of David's power over
the evil spirit of Saul, by means of his harp; quotes Clemens
Alexandrinus, but not in Greek; and after giving the invention of
instruments to Tubal, relates the manner in which Pythagoras
discovered hannonical proportions by the weights of a blacksmith's
hammers. Speaks of major and minor semitones, and of the
Comma. He has a long chapter on the proportions of the major
and minor thirds: here he takes occasion to describe the different
kinds of human voices, from the shrill cries of the infant to the
deep and dying groans of an old man; but mentions not those of the
evirati. Accpunts for the thirds having been regarded as discords
by the ancients who adhered to the proportions of Pythagoras;
and says, that to please in harmony they must necessarily be
altered, or, as it was afterwards called, tempered. In his seven-
teenth chapter he gives a list of Concordant Discords, Concordes
Discordice, or the less perfect double sounds; and these, he says,
are^six:^ the minor and major third; the diapente cum tono, or
major sixth; the two tenths, or octaves of the thirds; and the
diapason and diatessaron, or eleventh.
(y) Its number and title in the folio printed catalogue of 1697 are: 1460. 183 Walterus
Monackus Evaskami* de Speculate™ Music*; and in tSe 4to catalogue oT 1777^^0 25 N
Codex membranous in 4to Seculo . XV. Septet. in quo continetur^Summ^atHs fialteri
EV *"*" $*™™<™ ****? Pr- ««"• «i» -**• *
sint ditonus et semiditonus et an sint Symphonic An
nia. An diapente cum diapason & sympkbnik, £c !
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
The third part is chiefly speculative, and confined to
harmonics: forming the scale, and dividing the monochord, by
numbers, and giving rules for the proportions of organ pipes, and
the casting of bells. He speaks of the three kinds of melody, De
tribus generibus Cantilena; and after describing the Diatonic,
Chromatic, and Enarmonics of the ancients, he supports his
opinions by the authority of Nicomachus. Greek musical authors,
or at least their doctrines and technical terms, seem familiar to
Odington, who quoted the first book of Euclid at the beginning of
his work, and in this third part he gives the characters and names
of the notes in the Greek scale, and translates them into the same
language as Martianus Capella and Boethius (a). In his chapter
De Organis componendi, he gives a diagram of numbers and
intervals, in naming which by the letters of the alphabet, he begins
with the Greek T, and goes on from A to s. At the side of the
diagram he mentions the Greek names of the several tetrachords
and consonances; with the numbers, tones, and semitones. All this
is manifestly for the proportions of pipes in the instrument called
an Organ, not the Organum, or second voice part in discant, of
which he treats in his last book, as will appear farther on. This,
and his chapter De Cymbalis faciendis, or casting of bells, are
curious, and the first instructions of the kind that I had ever seen
in the manuscripts of the middle ages. The last chapter hi this
book is De Tropis, by which he means the ecclesiastical modes,
which he gives with their Greek names of Lydian, Dorian,
Phrygian, &c. and their Formula, in a literal notation.
The fourth part concerns poetical feet and rhythms more than
music (6).
Part the fifth contains eighteen chapters, which are in general
very curious and uncommon. In that which is entitled De Signis
Vocum, he says that "in our days musical tones are expressed by
the first seven letters of the alphabet; great, small, and double."
Then, in speaking of notes or characters, he says, "in the preceding
part I have shewn the use of Longs and Breves, or two kinds of notes
and syllables, I shall now proceed to give a table of their proportions
and their figures." By this he does not mean the characters
used in figurative music, or Cantus Mensurabilis, but such as were
used during his time in chanting, or plain-song, the names and
figures of which, as but few of them occur in any other author, I
shall insert here for the satisfaction of the curious reader.
(a) It is submitted to the learned, whether the Greek language and writers were not
better known in England at this time (about 1230) than is generally imagined by those who
suppose that the Western world was utterly ignorant of both till after the taking of
Constantinople by the Turks, 1453, when the fugitive Greeks, who were received by the Medici
family at Florence, taught their language to the Italians, and disseminated their literature
throughout Europe.
(6) Here the manuscript is continued in a different and more difficult handwriting, in
which the abbreviations are utterly untfke the former part, where the i was distinguished by a
fine oblique stroke over it, instead of the point, which only came into use with printing. But
in this latter part of the tract no notice is taken of the i, except when it is doubled, as in the
word alii; and it is observable that the first points that were used to the i, were to distinguish
that letter when it was doubled, from the u to the n, which in old manuscripts are exactly
.
517
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The names and figures of such notes as were in use in the
Western church before the invention of lines have been given
p. 440 and 441, and others used in the Greek church, p. 444; and
as many of these were not merely characters to express the
elevation or depression of single sounds, but entire intervals, and
short passages, so those of Walter Odington describe inflexions of
the voice in almost every species of interval by a single character,
and groops of notes by a single term of art.
Punctum
Trigunctum,
Virga - Biconpunctis
Virga Triconpuncti$--coiidia-.
tessaries, condiapentis — &c., &c. He gives examples of all these
in similar characters; that is, in breves with a long, as far as six
notes, or a hexachord ascending and descending, but without calling
them by these names.
The following are characters to express wider intervals, and
short passages : Sinuosa ... C Flexa ft1 .1 Resupina
Pes
Pe$ sinuasus
Pesflexus
Pes quassus
Pe$ rtsnpinus
gutturalis J»jl Quilissimi ^\ \ r
He has many more which seem never to have been adopted by
succeeding writers.
After explaining these characters, he speaks of the modern
expedient of naming the sounds from the syllables of the hymn
Ut queant laxis, &c., but without mentioning Guido. Then gives
the great system or scale in septenaries, after Guido's manner, in
capital, small, and double letters. Here he speaks of Voces Mobiles
in the ancient manner, and of F quadrata, as used in Musica falsa,
or transpositions, not, says he, per dissonem, sed extmnea et apud
antiques inusitata. Then he has a chapter De Mutationibus, in
which he explains the change of names in Solmisation in the same
manner as was done by succeeding writers long after his time.
The rest of this book is employed in describing different kinds of
ecclesiastical chants, and in giving rules for composing them. Then
dividing the modes into authentic and plagal, he gives examples of
canto fermo, which seem more florid than appear in missals of the
518
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
same period. The two following intonations, which he gives upon
five lines, will serve as specimens :
Dix-iti*Domi-nus Do-mi-no me~o (c) Be-ne-dictus Do-mimts*I>eus Is -ra - el.
The E u o u A E, initials, and finals of all the modes are given
in this kind of notation very amply, and always on five lines, and
spaces. At the beginning of the last chapter of this book, the
words Ananes, Neanes, Nana, &c., used by Odo and the modern
Greeks in their intonations, occur. This seems the most complete
description and notation of the ecclesiastical chant that I have found
in any author of equal antiquity.
In the sixth and last part, besides the Cantus Mensurabilis, which
will be explained in the next chapter, he treats De Generibus
Cantuum Organorum, et de Compositione Cantuum Organorum, of
organizing chants, or the composition of organic or second parts to
chants : and first, De Organo Puro. Here we meet with all the
Technica of later times, as Tenor, Motetus, Corolatus, Cantilena,
and Rondellus. The musical examples, however, as usual in old
manuscripts, are incorrect, and frequently inexplicable, owing to
the ignorance of music in the transcribers ; but if this tract were
corrected, and such of the examples as are recoverable, regulated
and restored, it would be the most ample, satisfactory, and valuable,
which the middle ages can boast. As the curious enquirer into the
state of music at this early period may discover in it not only what
progress our countrymen had made in the art themselves, but the
chief part of what was then known elsewhere.
In the thirteenth century, secular music began to be cultivated
in Italy, as appears by the writings of Marchetto da Padova, which
are preserved in the Vatican library at Rome. Of this author, I
found there two inedited manuscripts, No. 5322. The first is
entitled Lucidarium Artis Musica plancz, beginning, Cum inquit,
&c.; and the second Pomerium Artis Musica Mensurabilis : Quatuor
sunt Causes — &c.* The Lucidarium is frequently mentioned by
Franchinus, Pietro Aaron, and other old musical writers of Italy (d) .
There is a copy of this last mentioned tract of Marchetto in the
Ambrosian library at Milan, D.5 in folio, where it is said to have
(c) Here we have Appoggiaturas. It was perhaps during the use of all the preceding
quirks and refinements in canto fermo, that such offence was given to John of Salisbury,
Pope John the XXII. and other grave personages of those times.
(d) Of Franchinus, a short account has already been given, p. 106 of this volume. Pietro
Aaron was a voluminous writer upon music in the beginning of the sixteenth century. He had
been in the service of Leo X. and was one of the first writers on the subject of music in the
Italian language^ for which, and for not writing in Latin, like his predecessors, he makes
frequent apologies. But of P. Aaron and Franchinus Gaforius, a more ample account will be
given hereafter.
* Both these works were reprinted by Gerbert (Scriptores, Vol. 3). In the Lutidanum he
advocates the division of the tone into three-fifths and two-fifths, or into four-fifths and one-
fifth.
His ideas drew upon himself the censure of many of his contemporaries. De Beldemaxdis
wrote a tract against his suggestions (1410).
In the Pomerium he endeavours to give a fluctuating value to the semibreve, so that any
number between 2 and 12 semibreves would equal a breve.
519
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
been begun at Cesena, and finished at Verona, 1274 (*). The copy
of his works in the Vatican was dedicated to Charles, king of Sicily,
about the year 1283 (f). I had large extracts made from this
manuscript, as it contains the most ancient writings that I have been
able to consult, in which mention has been made of the Diesis, or
accidental sharp ; of Chromatic Counterpoint ; Discords ; and the
proportions of such Concords and Discords as are used in practical
Harmony.
In this author there are many attempts at new combinations,
some of which have been since received, and some rejected. He has
written upon Harmonics and Temperament, but his ideas
concerning the Chromatic Semitone, and Enharmonic Diesis, neither
correspond with those of the ancients nor the moderns ; and as
none of his divisions of the scale would be either intelligible to the
reader, or practicable in Harmony, I shall not enter here upon the
useless and disagreeable subject of Tone-splitting, but confine my
enquiries to the subject of Counterpoint, in which the experiments
and Tatonnemens of Marchetto, compared with those of his
predecessors, have the appearance of great licentiousness, though he
endeavours to give them a scientific air by subtle divisions and
sub-divisions of the scale. His examples of counterpoint in the
manuscript whence my extracts were made, like those of Franco, are
written upon only one staff of four, five, six, or more lines, according
to the distance of the intervals, with two clefs, one for the base,
and one for the tenor or upper part, with this peculiarity of
notation, that the notes of the upper part are written in red ink,
and the lower in black; which, to avoid the inconvenience of double
printing, I shall insert in black and white notes.
Diatonic Counterpoint.
g D
Though this specimen is far
from elegant, it contains nothing
which the modern rules of
Counterpoint would not allow.
In the next examples we have not only the most ancient use of
the Diesis, or Sharp, that I have been able to discover, but the
earliest attempts, perhaps, that can be found of what the moderns
call Chromatic, which, as something curious, I shall present to the
reader in Marchetto's notation upon five lines, and in two different
clefs, the tenor upon the fourth line, and the base upon the second ;
and then, for the convenience of the Dilettanti, by whom tenor clefs
(*) Luddanum in Arte Musica £lanaf inchoatnm Cesene, perfectumque Verone 1274.
(/) Marchettus Padoanus, qui suum opus Karole Regi Sictti* dicavit circa annum 1283.
520
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
are now but seldom wanted, I shall transfer these fragments of infant
harmony into modern notes and common clefs.
^-p*p^
ai=t
dp^d d
-^
3
ofrtf o
0 3^0 «^
L 1
fe)
(g)
If the merit of an invention be its use, Marchetto deserves the
thanks of innumerable composers for this passage, as well as for
the following specimens of Chromatic Modulation, ascending and
descending, which are still allowable in music of many parts.
b o b o
He allows the major 6th ascending into the 8th to be an imperfect
Concord ;
c g g«
o^»Q||
calls it, like Franco, a Discord, resolving it in the half note below,
with a 5th for its base:
This passage, with a small change in the accompaniment, in process
of time, was adopted by all the composers of Europe.
And lately to a Peddle, or Stationary Base, it has been in universal
favour, under the denomination of the Diminished 7th, Settima
Sminuita.
(g) The modulation from D major to C is rarely found in modern music, though it
frequently occurs in compositions of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. However, from £
with a sharp third to D minor is not uncommon, at present.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
ft * *& ^
r n q
gia'V
Modern Base (h]
.
Marchetto is the first who speaks of Discords and their resolu-
tion ; and lays it down as a rule, that no two sevenths, or fourths,
used as discords, should succeed each other, and that after a discord,
the part which has offended the ear should make it amends by
becoming a concord, while the other stands still : indeed he never
mentions the Preparation of Discords, but gives in black and red
notes the following example of the unwarrantable succession of
them :
n LI
-B-
m •• • M M H8B-
Padre Martini favoured me with a fragment of Counterpoint
from a missal of the thirteenth century, written in the manner of
that age with black and red notes, which he then imagined was the
most ancient specimen of Harmony that could be found. The old
French writers expressed this kind of Discant by the term Quintoier.
It chiefly consists of fifths, and is of a less refined and artful texture
than the organizing of Guido Aretinus, two hundred years before.
Agnus De - i qui tol - lis peccata mundi miserere no-bis.
So that it appears as if the laity, as usual, had alone been guilty of
the sin of innovation ; and had wickedly deviated from the true and
simple path of Diaphonics prescribed by the venerable saints and
fathers Hubald, Odo, and Guido, and amidst contempt and
persecution had brought Harmony under regular laws, and united
science with the pleasures of the ear (i).
(h) It is a matter of musical controversy In Italy, whether the honour of having first
dared to use the Settima Diminvtia, or diminished 7th, is due to JomelH or Galluppi; as both
these eminent masters hazarded fM* piquant passage so near the same time in different places,
the one in a song composed at Venice, and the outer in a song composed at Turin, that it is
easier to imagine the invention due to both, than that either should arrogate to himself the
merit of another. Jomelli, however, first carried it into Germany, where the elder Stamitz and
the symphonists of the Manheim school, and after them the contrapuntists of every other
school, introduced it in almost every movement, without always waiting for a favourable
opportunity.
(*) It seems as if ecclesiastical music was always inferior to secular at any given period;
and that the mutilated and imperfect scales of the eight modes in Canto Fermo had not only
injured Melody, but that bad Harmony had coutmwJ in the church long after it ceased to
be tolerated elsewhere.
522
INVENTION OF COUNTERPOINT
I shall now close this long chapter, being arrived at a period
when the laws of Harmony seem to have been tolerably settled,
as far as concerned Simple Counterpoint, or note against note ;
and to want only a Time-table to perfect written Discant, or
Musica Mensurabitis, which constituted Florid Counterpoint, and
of which the origin and progress will be traced in the next chapter.
5*3
Chapter III
Of the formation of the Time-table, and State of
Music from that discovery till about the middle
of the fourteenth century
IN the wild attempts at extemporary Discant, though some
pleasing Harmonies had been found, yet but little use could be
made of them, without a TIME-TABLE ; and when these
Harmonies were first written down, in Counterpoint, unless the
Organum, or additional part, moved in notes of the same length as
the plain-song, the composer had no means of expressing it, till a
kind of Algebra, or System of Musical Signs and Characters to
imply different Portions of Time, was invented.
The ancients have left us no rules for Rhythm, Time, or Accent,
in Music, but what concerned the words or verses that were to be
sung ; and we are not certain that in high antiquity they had any
melody purely instrumental, which never had been set to words, or
was not formed upon poetical feet and the metrical laws of
versification.
Before the invention, therefore, of characters for Time, written
Music in parts must have consisted of Simple Counterpoint, such as
is still practised in our parochial Psalmody, consisting of note against
note, or sounds of equal length ; which at first was the case even in
extemporary discant, as the rules given for it by Hubald, Odo, and
Guido, speak of no other.
• It has been already shewn, in the Dissertation (a), that the
ancients had no other resources for Time and Movement in their
Music, than what were derived from the different arrangements and
combinations of two kinds of notes, - cj , equivalent to a long and
short syllable. And before the use of lines there were no characters
or signs for more than two kinds of notes in the church ; nor, since
ecclesiastical chants have been written upon four lines and four
spaces, have any but the square and lozenge characters, commonly
called Gregorian Notes, been used in Canto Fermo.
There are some stories in musical mythology, which make instru-
mental music of higher antiquity than vocal, such is that of the
contention between Marsyas and Apollo, and of Minerva throwing
away her flute (b); but which ever had the primogeniture, as both
(a) Sect. Rhythm. (6) Vol. L p. 229 and 232.
5*4
THE FORMATION OF THE TIME-TABLE
were long regulated by syllables, there could have been no occasion
for a Time-table, as the structure of the verse determined the
measure of the music, and the accents of speech must have been
those of the melody to which it was sung : so that a long syllable
would of course require a long note, and a short syllable a note of
short duration. Prosody therefore has been very justly defined, by
Sig. Eximeno (c), the Guide of Song: and the origin of the word
confirms his opinion, that Prosody among the ancients included the
seeds of music.
However, when vocal and instrumental music were separated,
or rather, when instrumental, wholly emancipated from syllables,
was invented, a guide and regulator of the duration of sounds, even
hi simple Melody, became necessary ; but in written Discant, and
florid Counterpoint, indispensable.
The most affecting Melody consists in such an arrangement and
expression of musical tones, as constitute the accents and language
of passion. A single sound, unconnected, or a number of sounds,
of an indeterminate length, express nothing; and almost all the
meaning, beauty, and energy of a series of sounds depend on the
manner in which they are measured and accented. If aU notes were
equal in length and unmarked by any superior degree of force or
spirit, they could have no other effect on the hearer than to excite
drowsiness. Innumerable passages, however, of a different
character and expression might be produced by a small number of
notes ; and by a series of such small portions of melody as these,
diversified by measure and motion, an air, or composition might be
produced, which in many particulars would resemble a discourse.
Each passage, regarded as a phrase, might at least awaken in the
hearer an idea of tranquillity or disquietude, of vivacity or languor.
Indeed Time is of such importance in music, that it can give
meaning and energy to the repetition of the same sound ; whereas,
without it, a variety of tones, with respect to gravity and acuteness,
has no effect. Upon this principle it is that a drum seems to express
different tunes, when it only changes the accents and measure of a
single sound. And it is on this account that any instrument which
marks the time with force and accuracy, is more useful in regulating
the steps of a dance, or the march of an army, than one with sweet
and refined tones.
In repetitions of the same sound, in notes of equal duration,
Time is made sensible to the hearer by accents ; without which he
would have no means of discovering the different portions into
which it is divided. If, therefore, we have a succession of notes of
equal length and intonation, the ear may be impressed with an idea
of some certain rhythm or measure, by marking the first of every
two or three notes thus: f f j1 f ] > or thus: f f f j j4 \ \ II •
In the first example the accents being on the first and third sounds,
imply Common Tune of four equal members or portions; and in
(c) Orig. ddla Musica, lib. ii. c. 4-
5*5
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
the second, the repetitions of the same sound having an ^accent on
the first of every three sounds, an idea is impressed of Triple Time.
By this means the mind is employed in a kind of perpetual
calculation, and a uniformity of sensation is impressed on the ear.
Dr. Plott (d), giving an account of the harmonics, or natural
division and vibration of strings into aliquot parts,^upon a kindred
sound being produced near them, calls Music "an Arithmetic,
embellished with sounds." And Leibnitz applying the same idea to
measure as had been applied to Sympathetic Consonance, says that
Music is in many respects "an occult Arithmetic, or calculation
which the mind insensibly makes (e)."
Music, before the invention of counterpoint, consisted, as far as
we are able to discover, in Canto Fermo, or melodies equalty simple:
on this inelegant and insipid treble harmony was grafted, and
practised in the church, in the same manner as has been shewn in
the preceding chapter ; but the discovery which was afterwards
made in the invention of characters for time, was much more
important, as it constitutes the true aera of musical independence; for
till then, if melody subsisted, it was entirely subservient to all
syllabic laws.
Soon after this epoch music became free and independent,
perhaps to a licentious degree, with respect to vocal music ; but
instrumental in parts, and in florid counterpoint, certainly could
not subsist without a well-regulated measure, and a more minute
and subtle division of time than could be derived from that of long
and short syllables.
I know that many of the learned think the liberty music
acquired at this memorable revolution has often been abused by
her sons, who are frequently enfans gates, riotous, capricious,
ignorant, licentious, and enthusiastic ; and that whenever poetry is
at their mercy they are more in want of instruction and restraint
than the most wild and ignorant school-boys: this perhaps is true,
as far as concerns grave and sublime poetry in the hands of
injudicious composers ; but that poetry, truly lyric, is
constantly injured by melody, none, but those who are both
unable and unwilling to feel its effects, will aver. I could instance
innumerable scenes of the admirable Metastasio, which, however
beautiful in themselves, have been rendered far more affecting and
impassioned, both by the musical composer and performer. To
these I could add many English accompanied-recitatives, and airs,
in Handel's Oratorios, where even prose has received additional
dignity and energy from lengthened tones: and none who ever
heard the late Mrs. Gibber sing " Return, 0 God of Hosts," or
" He was despised and rejected," whose ears could vibrate, or
whose hearts could feel, would dispute the point. And still, to go
a little farther back, I would rest the .decision upon the productions
(ft Nat. HBst. of Oxfordshire, 1708, p. 293.
(«t JWwstcfl est exercitivm Arithmetics pccuUitm nescientis se wtmerare ammi. In Epist.
154. This ingenious thought is equally applicable to harmony itself, as far as the number and
ratio of vibrations are concerned jn the pleasure which the ear receives from Concords,
THE FORMATION OF THE TIME-TABLE
of a composer of our own country, in our own language, who
seldom was so fortunate as to have words to set that were either
elegant, sublime, or truly lyric; I mean Henry Purcell, whose style
is now unfashionable, and whose melodies are uncouth and
ungraceful; yet few can hear his Mad-Bess well sung, without being
infinitely more affected than by merely reading that melancholy
monologue as a poem.
Indeed music, considered abstractedly, without the assistance,
or rather the shackles of speech, and abandoned to its own powers,
is now become a rich, expressive, an.d picturesque language in
itself; having its forms, proportions, contrasts, punctuations,
members, phrases, and periods.
Many writers on music, however, who have a veneration for
the ancients, are of opinion that measure was not only more varied,
but observed with more precision by the Greeks and Romans than
the moderns. According to the late Rousseau, " it was after the
victories obtained by the Barbarians, that languages changed their
character, and lost their harmony. Then metre, which used to
express the measure of poetry, was neglected, and prose was more
frequently sung than verse. Scarce any other amusement was then
known than the ceremonies of the church, nor music than that in
which its service was performed; and as this music required not the
regularity of rhythm, it was at length wholly lost (/)."
But as this music was not set to the jargon spoken by
Barbarians, but to Latin words, in which accent could not have been
wholly disused and unknown at the time of which Rousseau speaks,
and in which quantity has never been lost; and as the hymns of
the church were written in ancient metres, it is not easy to fix the
neglect and extirpation of measure upon the church, unless its
relaxation be owing to the Neuma, or recapitulation of a chant at
the end of an anthem, which seems to have been the origin of
divisions, and in which it was first allowed to sing as many notes
to one syllable, and, often, to sing without words, as many as could
be executed during one respiration (g).
Divisions were unknown to the ancients, who never allowed
more than two notes to a syllable; but with them, as has already
been observed, music was a slave to language, and at present it is
become a free agent. When the words of an air are divided,
repeated, and transposed at the pleasure of the composer, though
they stop the narration, they either paint an idea, in different
colours, or enforce a sentiment upon which the mind wishes to
(/) Diet, de Mus. Art Mesure.
(g) See this vol., chap. ii. p. 438. In singing, many sounds applied to one syllable
constitute a division, Volee, Roulade, Valuta, Passaggio; and in playing upon an instrument, a
rapid succession of sounds without a rest, or slow note, has generally the same appellation.
Such as are chiefly pleased with grave and sober music censure those flights, as capricious,
unmeaning, and trivial. Others are .however captivated by them, when executed with
precision, and regard them as proofs of the composer's invention, and the performer's abilities.
And it is perhaps a popular prejudice to imagine that all such inflexions are absurd,- and ill
placed, even in a slow and plaintive melody. On the contrary, when the heart is much moved
and affected, the voice can more easily find sounds to express passion, than the mind can
furnish words; and hence came the use of interjections and exclamations in all languages. It is
no less a prejudice to assert, that a division is always proper on a favourable word or syllable,
without considering the situation of the singer, or the sentiment he has to express.
527
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
linger. And the different phrases of an air are only reiterated
strokes of passion; for it is by these repetitions and redoubled
efforts that an expression, which at first is heard with tranquillity,
disturbs, agitates, and transports the hearers. ^But whether this
reasoning be allowed or no, Divisions were certainly first practised
in the church, even in Canto Fermo, where the Perielesis and the
Neuma have long been admitted, and where their use is stiil
allowed (h).
Roman Catholics authorise this custom by a passage in St.
Augustine, which says, that when we are unable to find words
worthy of the Divinity, we do well to address him with confused
sounds of joy and thanksgiving: " For to whom are such extatic
sounds due, unless to the Supreme Being? An,d how can we
celebrate his ineffable goodness, when we are equally unable to adore
him in silence, and to find any other expressions for our transports
than inarticulate sounds (z)? "
This licence prevailed even in the time of Guido, to whom
*>me attribute the invention of the Neuma for which he gives rules
in his Micrologus (fe). But it seems as if the perfection of 'figurative
Counterpoint, and the invention of Fugues, had utterly .diverted
the attention of the composer, performer, and public, from poetry,
propriety, and syllabic laws; to this may be added the use of the
Organ in accompanying the service of the church, which, according
to Dante, rendered the words that were sung difficult to be under-
stood (Z). Indeed when Harmony was first cultivated, and began
to charm the ears of mankind, verse was so rude in the new and
unpolished languages, that it wanted some such sauce as Harmony
to make it palatable. And at the revival of letters, when poetry
began again to flourish, Melody was so Gothic and devoid of grace,
that good poets disdained its company or assistance; and we find
that verses of Dante, Ariosto, and Tasso, supported themselves
without the aid of music, as musical compositions in counterpoint
seem to have done without poetry. It was the cultivation of the
musical drama that once more reconciled the two sisters; however,
their leagues of friendship are but of short duration, and like a
froward couple whose dispositions too rarely coincide, it is
Sometimes my plague, sometimes my darling,
Kissing to-day, to-morrow snarling.
But as I shall hereafter have frequent occasions to speak of the
abuse of Harmony to the injury of Melody, and of both to the
(A) The Perielesis. cr circumvolution, is the interposition of one or many notes at the
close of a chant, to ascertain its termination, and as a signal to the choir to pursue it. And
the Neuma. is a kind of short recapitulation of the chant of a mode, consisting of a number oi
sounds without words. Lebeuf. Traite sur le Chant Ecclesiastique, p. 227 & 239.
{*) In the Melodies that are set to the Provencal songs, which are the most ancient secular
Airs that are extant, never more than two notes, or three in the time of two, now called a
triplet, are allowed to one syllable.
(k) Cap xvi.
Quando a Cantar con Orgaito si stia
Ch'or », or no, s'mtendo* le parole.
Purg. Canto ix.
528
THE FORMATION OF THE TIME-TABLE
titter ruin of Lyric Poetry, I shall now proceed to trace the
invention of musical characters for Time.
The benefit conferred on music by the invention of a Time-
table, which extended the limits of ingenuity and contrivance to
the utmost verge of imagination, must long have remained unknown
to the generality of musicians and musical writers, or more care
would have been taken to record some few memorials concerning
its author. But when the age or cotemporaries of a man of letters
or science are known, the curiosity of most readers is satisfied;
for a life spent in the perusal and composition of books, in quiet
and obscurity, furnishes but few circumstances that can interest
the busy part of mankind. The efforts of the mind in retirement,
however great may be the objects with which it is occupied, admit
of no .description; while an active life, ostensibly employed in the
service of a state or any order of society, supplies the biographer
with materials of easy use, and, if well arranged, and interwoven,
such as are welcome to all readers.
We find that Marchetto da Padua, so early as the year 1283,
in the Vatican manuscript (m) already cited, speaks of Cantibus
Mensuratis. The invention of characters for time has, however,
been given by almost all the writers on music of the last and present
century, to John de Muris, who flourished about the year 1S30,*
and whom many English writers seem ambitious of claiming as
an Englishman; probably with the hopes of honouring this country
with his invention of the Time-table; yet,, however patriotic may
be their design, I am in possession of such a stubborn proof of
that discovery not being the property of John de Muris, as he
would be unable to refute if he were himself to rise from the tomb
and claim it.
Among the manuscripts which were bequeathed to the Vatican
library by the queen of Sweden, there is a Compendium of Practical
Music, by John de Muris, in which he treats of musical characters
for Time ; but introduces the subject with a short chronological list
of anterior musicians who had merited the title of Inventors:
beginning, as usual, with Tubal; and after naming Pythagoras, and
Boethius, he proceeds to Guido the monk, "who constructed the
ganunut, or scale for the monochord, and placed notes upon lines
and spaces; after whom came MAGISTER FRANCO, who invented the
figures, or notes, of the Cantus Mensurabilis (n)."
All farther enquiries concerning the right which John de Muris
may have to this important invention seem useless, as it is so
(m) No. 1146.
(n}—Deinde Guido monachus qui compositor erat gammatis qui monochordum dicitur, voces
lineis, et spaciis dividebat. Post hunc Magister Franco, qui invenit in Cantu Menstuam
figurarum— MS. Reginae Sveciae in Vatic. No. 1146. Compendium Joannis de Muribus.
* There appeals to have been at least two writers bearing this name: —
(i) Johannes (or Juliannus) who was. made Rector of the Sorbonne, Paris, in 13.50.
(ii) Johannes, believed by some to have been a Norman and who is known to have
lived for some time in Paris. ....
Attempts have been made to establish fr*s nationality as English, but there does not seen to
be any evidence to support this theory.
Probably the only authentic work by de Muris is the Speculum musice, now in the Bib.
Nat. at Paris (Nos. 7207 and 72oyA ). A portion of this work was published by Coussemaker
(Scriptores, Vol. 2).
Vor,, i. 34. 529
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
fully and clearly renounced in favour of another, by the only person
who was thought to have a fair claim to it. I shall therefore quit
John de Muris for the present, in order to try whether his
predecessor Franco's right to this invention be wholly indisputable,
notwithstanding it has been ceded to him so formally.
The same fatality seems to attend the first founders of arts as of
empires, whose history must ever be short, unless conjecture and
fable are called into the assistance of the writer.
MAGISTER FRANCO* is by some called a native, or at least an
inhabitant of Paris ; by others a scholastic of Liege ; but, if we may
believe Franco himself, he was of Cologn : for, seeming to foresee
the disputes which would arise concerning his locality, he begins
his Compendium de Discantu, one of his musical tracts which has
been preserved, in the following manner: Ego Franco de Colonia,
&c., which, if the authors of the Histoire Litter aire de la France had
seen, they doubtless would not have fixed him at Liege, nor would
those who have implicitly followed them, have been led into this
mistake.
Sigebert (o) tells us that Franco supported the functions of his
office of scholastic, or preceptor, by a great fund of religion and
knowledge ; and acquired as much celebrity by his virtue as science :
Scientialiterarum et morum probitate clarus. He ventured, say the
Benedictines (p), to study profane science as well as ecclesiastic, and
had courage to attempt squaring the circle. Christian philosophers
generally regard a man for lost who addicts himself to such pursuits
as the squaring the circle, the multiplication of the cube, perpetual
motion, the philosopher's stone, judicial astrology, or magic. But
Franco is said to have exercised his faculties in these studies with
such discretion, that he never neglected his more important
concerns.
By the testimony of Sigebert, his cotemporary (5), he had
acquired great reputation for his learning in 1047. At least it is
certain that he had written concerning the square of the circle before
the month of February, 1055, at which time Heriman, archbishop
of Cologn, to whom he dedicated his work, died (r).
Franco lived at least till August 1083, for he at that time filled
the charge of scholastic of the Cathedral at Liege.
Among many works which Franco is said to have produced upon
religious and mathematical subjects, we are told by the authors of
the Histoire Litteraire de la France, that he wrote upon Music and
(o) De Script, Eccles, c. 164.
(£} Hist. Litt. de la France,, tome viiL p. 122.
(q) Ckron, an 1047.
(r) His dedicating a book to tills prelate seems a natural consequence of his residence at
(Jologn.
*The identity of the writer of the works attributed to Magister Franco is
much disputed, but it seems probable that he flourished about 1060, and most likely at Cologne.
inere was another wnter who was a contemporary of Franco of Cologne who is known as
Franco of Pans and who is the author of a tract. De Arte Discantandi, and which is extensively
q0i * Hm>
etc.
umm* *" muscumt etc.
«,-« c«>Py °* the Ars Cantus Mensurabilis referred to in the text, there is a
A?A ifcc15^ J^rZF* ot •?* work» **» existence of which was unknown to Burney (BM.
Add. MSS, 8866}. Other copies are to be found at Mi>» g^ PariSp
530
THE FORMATION OF THE TIME-TABLE
Plain-chant; and that in the abbey of Lire [Vire] in Normandy,
there is a manuscript in folio, which contains Ars Magistri Franconis
de Musica Mensurabili. These writers add, that there can be no
doubt of this Magister Franco being the same as the Scholastic of
that name ; or that another tract on Music, in six chapters, entitled
Magistri Franconis Mtisica, and preserved in the Bodleian library at
Oxford [Bod. MSS. 842, f. 49], is by the same author, as well as the
Compendium de Discantu, tribus Capitibus, in the same library
[Bod. MSS. 842, f. 60].
These authors, who indeed pretend not to have seen the musical
tracts of Franco, have imagined, contrary to their usual accuracy,
that the treatise De Musica Mensurabili, in the library at Lire, and
Musica Magistri Franconis, in the Bodleian library, were different
works; but there remains not the least doubt of their being duplicates
of the same tract, in every respect, but their titles.
Trithemius (s), who calls him Franco Scholasticus Leodiensis
Ecclesia, of the church of Liege, natione Theutonicus, and a
German, tells us, that "he was very learned in the holy scriptures ;
a great philosopher, astronomer, arithmetician, (computista)\ and
that he dedicated several of his works to the archbishop of Cologn :
such as his tract De Quadratura Circuli; De Compute Ecclesiastico;
et alia plura;" but he specifies none of the musical writings of
Franco, who, according to this biographer, flourished under the
emperor Henry III. 1060.
The first mention, however, which I can find of Franco as a
writer on music, in any treatise on the subject, is by Marchetto da
Padova, of whose manuscript tracts an account has already been
given (t). In his Lucidarium in Arte Musicce Pianos, written in the
year 1274, he says, "that the agreement of different melodies,
according to Magister Franco, constitutes discant («)•" He likewise
cites him in his Pomoerium, de Musica M ensurata, as Inventor *of
the four first musical characters (#); and this would have been
sufficiently early to strip John de Muris of the honour of their
invention, had he chosen to invest himself with it.
He is next, in point of time, mentioned by John de Muris
himself, as is already related. And, in a manuscript of the Bodleian
library (y), ascribed to Thomas, or John, of Teukesbury, which, it
is said at the end, was finished at the university of Oxford, 1351,
there is a chapter expressly on the Musical Characters for Time,
invented by Franco : De Figuris inventis a Francone.
Franchinus Gaf onus (z) quotes him twice as author of the Time-
table; and ascribes to him (a) the completion of Counterpoint, by
his contrivance of moving in different melodies at the same time:
meaning his invention of musical characters for measure.
(s) De Script. Eccles. Paris, 1512. (*) See page 519 of this volume.
(») Dvscantus, secundum Magistrum Fianconem, est diveisorum cantuum consonantia.
Ex Cod. Vatic. Num. 5322.
(x) Muratori, Antiq. Med, £tf. Dissect 24, togje ji. P. Martini, tome i, page 189. Gerb.
tome ii. page 124.
(y) Digby, 90. fc) *>"»*• Musk*, EJx ii. c. 6.
• ( tt> tib. & c. z.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Our countryman Morley (6) says, that "Francho was the most
ancient of all those whose works on practical music had come to his
hands/' But he seems only to have seen a Commentary on his
Treatise by Robert de Handle, and to know nothing of his age and
country (c). And Ravenscroft (d), who appears indeed to have
been no better acquainted with the original than Morley, quoting
him only through John Dunstable, an Englishman (e), tells us
boldly that he was the inventor of the four first simple notes of
Mensurable Music ; but, unluckily, calls him Franchinus de ColoniA,
confounding him with Franchinus Gafurius.
Critical exactness, with respect to dates, names, or facts, was
not yet much practised in writing upon the arts; and Morley, the
best author who had written expressly on Music, in our language,
since the invention of printing, took many things upon trust; and
though he gave a long list of practical musicians, whose works he
had consulted, he never had seen the writings of Guido, nor .does
he quote a single manuscript treatise throughout his Introduction,
which indeed is professedly more didactic than historical.
Having collected the evidence of respectable and unsuspected
authors in favour of the musical writings of Franco, it will be
necessary to give the reader an account of the particular tract which
chiefly concerns this chapter, entitled Ars Canius Mensurabilis: and
this I shall do from the work itself, of which I obtained a copy
from the Bodleian library at Oxford (/).
This short, but celebrated tract, contains six chapters :
1. Prologue, and Definitions of the Terms used in the Treatise.
2. Of the Figures, or Representations of single Sounds.
3. Of Ligatures, or compound Notes.
4. Of Rests or Pauses.
5. Of the different Concords used in Discant.
6. Of the Organum, and of other Combinations of Sounds (g).
In speaking of former musical writers, he says, that " both the
theory and practice of Plain Music, or Chanting, had been
sufficiently explained by several philosophers; particularly the theory
by Boethius, and the practice by Guido," whom he exalts into a
philosopher. " The ecclesiastical tropes or modes, he adds, had
(b) Annotations to his Introduction, p. 7.
(c) Robert de Handlo wrote a Commentary on the Uusica Mensurabilis of Franco, 1326
See Tanner, p. 376. And this is even an earlier period than was assigned to the invention by
those who had given it to John de Muris.
(d) Briefe Discourse of the true Use of Charactering the Degrees in Measurable Musicke
1614, page i.
<«) Id. page 3- 0) 842. f. 49.
(g) Ixsipit Uusica Magistri Franconis, continens 6 capitula.
Capitulum primum continct Prologum et Diffinitiones Terntinorum ad istitm Tractatum
pcrtinentium.
Cap. 2. DC Figuris Vpcis simplicis, sive de Notts non Ligatis.
Cap. 3. De Ligatis, sive de Figuris composite.
Cap. 4. Est de Pausis, et earum diversitate.
Cap. 5. Est de dtversarum Vocum debita Concordaatia et Discantu.
Cap. 6. Diffinit Cofrulam et Organum, et eorum Species.
THE FORMATION OF THE TIME-TABLE
been settled by St. Gregory/' Franco, therefore, only intends to
treat of Measured Music, of which, he piously observes, plain-chant
has the precedence, as the principal of the subaltern (h). " Nor let
any one say, continues he, that I have undertaken this work
through arrogance, or for my own convenience, but merely for the
sake of its evident truth, the ease with which it may be compre-
hended by the student, and its containing the most perfect method
of teaching all the modes of Measured Music, and their Notation.
For as there are several authors, as well modern as ancient, who
in their treatises give many good rules concerning Measured Music,
and on the contrary are deficient and erroneous in other particulars,
especially in the appendages of the science, we think their doctrines
require some correction and improvement, lest the science itself
should suffer from their errors and defects. We therefore propose
giving a compendious explanation of Measured Music, in which we
shall not scruple to insert, what others have said well on the
subject, to correct their errors, and to support by good reasons
whatever we ourselves may have newly invented (*)."
It seems evident from this passage, particularly those parts of
it which are printed in capitals, that the invention of musical notes
for Time, is more ancient than Franco, and that he had only the
merit of improvement. It likewise informs us, that there were, in
his time, treatises de Mensurabili Musicd, or, at least, that doctrines
had been proposed an,d laid down concerning musical notes, and
the different duration of sounds, by writers who were antiqui, with
respect to him; and proves very strongly that this manuscript
contains only a mixture of his own rules with those of his prede-
cesssors (&). And indeed, upon a careful analysis of this whole tract,
it does not appear that Franco was the Inventor of musical notes,
or characters for Time, though they have lately been given him in
such very positive terms, by those who, without seeing his
manuscript, have taken it for granted that it was wholly his property,
because no other writer of equal antiquity was found to have
treated of Cantus Mensurabilis. Indeed, besides the passages
already cited, we find him speaking of former writers, and former
opinions concerning the notes and modes; particularly, chapter
second, the words quemadmodum quidam posuerunt, acknowledge
other writers upon the subject of Measured Music besides himself;
and, chapter the fourth, he speaks of the great error which some
(h)—De MENSURABILI MUSICA, quam ipsa PLANA PRECEDIT tanquam principalis
subalternam.
(*) Nee dicat aliquis nos hoc opus propter arrogantiam vel forte etiam Propter Propriam
commoditatem incepisse, sed vere propter evidentem ventatem et audttorum factlltmam
apprekensionem, nee non et omnium Modorum Notarum (of .aU the moods as expressed by
characters or notes) ipsius Hensurabilis Musicse perfecttssimain institutionem. Nam cum vtdemus
multos tarn novos quam antiques in aitibus suis de Mensurabili Musica (alluding perhaps to the
usual titles of musical treatises: Ars Musices; Ars Mensurabilis Musica, &c.) multa bona. dicere,
et e contrario in multis et mctxime in accidentibus ipsius scientioe deficere et errare, opinion*
eorum fore existimamus succurrendumf ne forte propter defectum et errorem pratdtctoruw dtcta
scientia detrimentum patiatur. Proponimus tgitur tpsam Mensurabilem Mustcam sub compendto
declarare, benedictaque aliorum non recusabimus wterponere, errores quoque dtstruere et jugare,
et si quid novi a nobis inventum merit, bonis ratiohibus sustmere et probare.
(A) Si quid novi— The expression is strong, and even when deduction is made for modesty,
implies, perhaps, that his inventions were but few and inconsiderable.
533
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
have committed by tying together three Longs in Tenor parts; and
of the still greater blunder which others have made in tying a
Long between two Breves (I). And the author of a Latin treatise,
which was among the Cotton musical manuscripts, seems to deter-
mine with great precision the degree of merit that is due to Franco,
with respect to the Time-table; for speaking of the Canto Fermo
of an earlier period, he says: " Though music was at that time
not measured, it was approaching towards measure, when Franco
appeared, who was the first Approved author, or writer, on
Measured Music (in)."
After this introduction definitions are given, in which I shall
mention whatever seems singular or curious.
Measured Music, he says, is regulated by long and short Times,
or portions of Measure; and Measure he defines, the regulated
motion of any series of Sounds, whether quick or slow, different
from plain-song, in which no such regularity of movement is
observed. A Time is the stated proportion of a lengthened tone,
or of a rest of equal duration. " I speak of a Rest," says he, " as
measured by Time, because otherwise the performers of two
different parts, one of which should have a rest, and the other not,
would be unable to proceed together in exact time (#)."
This seems to be the purport of the original, which, however,
I shall constantly throw into the notes for the consideration of the
curious and learned reader, who may, perhaps, discover meanings
that have escaped my penetration. Indeed, this passage gives an
idea of more than Simple Counterpoint, of note for note, and
syllable for syllable, being practised in Franco's time, who is
believed to have written his tract within fifty years of Guido.
" Measured Music," continues he, "is of two kinds: wholly,
and partly measured. Music wholly measured is .discant, which is
measured throughout; and that which is partly measured is the
simple chant or plain-song, which, though measured by Time in
some degree, is neither Organum nor Discant, as it is commonly
called by those who sing the Ecclesiastical Chants (o)."
(I}— Ex quo sequitur quod vehem enter errant qw. tres Longas aliqua occasions ut in
Tenoribus ad invicem ligant; sed adkuc plus illi qui inter duos breves longam ligant.
(m)—Non envrn erat musica tune mensurata, sed paulatim crescebat ad mensuram, usque ad
temp us Franconis» qui erat Musica Mensurabilii primus auctor APPROBATUS.
(») Dico autem pausam tempers mensurarif quia aliter duo Cantus diversi quorum (si)
uaus cum pausa et alius sine sumeretur, non possent proportionaliter adinvicem bene coaquari.
(o) Dividitur autem Mensurabilis Musica in mensurabilem simplidter et partim. Mensurabilis
simpliciter est discantus, eo quod in omni parte sua mensuratur. Mensurabilis partim est cantus
simplex et tempore mcnsuratus, sed Organum non est, neque Discantus (Organum) community
veto dicitur quibus Cantus Ecclesiasticus tempore mensuratur.
It seems, by this passage, as if organizing, or singing in harmony, had first brought the
plain-chant to strict time; and that, then, when only a single part or melody was sung in
time, it was customary to call H Organum, because measured like the Organum. And
perhaps, in singing upon a plain-song, the principal melody, while it continued to be chanted
nearly in the same manner as it used to be before parts were added to it. was said to be partly
measured; and the Organum or Discant, moving in proportionate notes of different lengths,
was regarded as wholly measured. In our cathedrals, where the Psalms are chanted in four
parts, Time is neither absolutely kept, nor wholly disregarded: ft is kept with respect to the
harmony, as all the parts move together; yet the melody of each part being governed by the
length of the verses, cannot be said to be regularly measured. In accompanied recitation the
instalments move sometimes a tempo, while the voice part seems ad libitum.
534
THE FORMATION OF THE TOTE-TABLE
He next defines Discant; and as the reader may be curious to
know the acceptation of this term, so near the time of its invention,
I shall insert the whole passage.
" Di scant is the consonance of different melodies, in which
those different melodies move in sounds of various lengths, as
Longs, Breves, and Semibreves, proportioned to each other, and
expressed in writing by adequate notes or characters (£)•"
He then divides Discant into three kinds; ''Notes of equal
length, Ligatures, or binding Notes, and Notes that are deficient
in Time (q)." Of these he proposes to treat separately; but as all
Discant moves in some particular Measure, Mode, or Mood, he first
defines a Mood, and its characters, or signs.
"A Mood is the representation of the time of measured sounds,
expressed by Longs or Breves, or long and short notes. As Modes
are of different kinds, their number and arrangement are made
different by different musicians. Some multiply them to six, and
some to seven; but we (says Franco) allow only of five, because to
this number all others may be referred. The first consists wholly of
Longs* —The second of a Breve, a Long, &c. The third of a Long
and two Breves/1 &c. — In Handle's commentary on this passage
it is observed, that in this mood, a pause equal to a long is placed
after the second long; which reduces it to what the moderns would
call Common Time, and express thus:
" The fourth Mood consists of two Breves and a Long, &c. And
the fifth is wholly composed of Breves and Semibreves (r)/'
If these five Modes of Franco were expressed in ancient notes
they would have the following appearance :
(p) Discantus est aliquorum diversorum cantuum consonantia, in qua itti diversi cantus Per
voces Longas et Breves^ et Semibreves proportionaliter adequantur, et in scripto Per debitas
figuras proportionate adinvicem designantur.
(q]—Alius simpliciter prelates, aims copulatus, alius truncates.
(r) Modus est representatio soni Longis Brevibusque temporibus mensurati. Modi autem
diversis diversimode enumerantur et eiiam ordinantur. Quidam vero ponunt 6, alii Jtent, nos
autem quinque tantum ponimus, quoniam ad hos quinque omnes alii reducanter. Primus vero
procedit ex omnibus Longis.~-Secundus procedit ex Brevi et Longa et Brcvi. Tercius vero
ex Longa et duabus Brevibus et Longa. Quartus est ex duabus Brevibus et Longa et duabus
Br embus, Qumtus autem ex omnibus Brevibus et Semibrevibus.
*The following is the more generally accepted order of the moods:
ist mood. All Longs (Molossic):
2nd mood. A Long and a Breve (Trochaic):
3rd mood. A Breve and two Longs (Iambic}',
4th mood. A Long and two Breves (Dactylic)',
,
5th mood. Two breves and a Long (AnapcesticY,
6th
.
th mood. All Breves (Tribrachic).
De Handle's commentary is not upon the work of Franco of Cologne but upon that by
Franco of Paris.
535
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Morley, in his Annotations, p. 8, seems to explain them ia the
same manner: " If a plaine song consisted al of Longes, it was
called the first Mood: if of a Long and a Briefe successively, it
was called the second Mood," &c. For when Franco says that
the second Mood consisted of "a Breve and Long and Breve,"
et c&tera seems necessarily understood. And this conjecture is
confirmed by the fragment of a very ancient manuscript musical
treatise in the British Museum (s), where six Moods are described
in the following manner: " The first consists of a succession of
Longs and Breves; the second of Breves and Longs; the third of a
Breve and two Longs; the fourth of two Longs and a Breve; the
fifth of three Longs; and the sixth of three Breves (£)." These
are all reducible to the five Modes of Franco : for the fifth is the
first Mood of Franco, and the sixth, in reality, only the same
measure of time, accelerated; as it is indifferent at present whether
a Minuet be written in £ or f. The second, third, and fourth
Moods in the anonymous tract are precisely the same as those of
Franco, in longer specimens; as the author says, Secundus constat
Brevi Longa Brevi Longa Brevi Longa, which is only thrice
repeating the same measure. The fifth Mood of Franco
corresponds with the first of this author; for a Long and a Breve,
or a Breve and a Semibreve, differ no more in their effect on the ear,
than a Minim and Crotchet, and Crotchet and Quaver, which equally
represent Triple Time (u).
The five Modes, as Franco has described them, afford no great
variety of measures. Indeed, the ancients had been long in
possession of a far greater number of combinations in their poetical
feet (x); to some one of which every Mood in Franco's list is
reducible; as the first, consisting wholly of Longs, or slow notes,
wants nothing either in Common or Triple Time, but what the
Spondee or Motossus would supply. The second, having a Breve
followed by a Long, would be represented by the Iambus. The
third, consisting of a Long and two Breves, by the Dactyl. The
fourth of two Breves and a Long, by the Anapast. And the
fifth, composed of Breves and Semibreves, by the Trochaic foot.
But it was not so much the business of Franco to invent new
measures, as to unite the old.
In his second chapter he treats of simple notes or characters, of
which he enumerates only three kinds; the Long, the Breve, and
Semibreve; making no mention of the Large, or of the Minim.
These, he tells us, are either perfect or imperfect. The perfect
(s) Bib. Reg. 12. c. vi. 5. Tractates Uusici 3.
(t) Modus vel maneries vel temjboris consideratio est cognitio Loitgitudinis, et Brevitatis
meli sonique. Modi generates s»nt VI. Primus constat ex Longa Brevi, Longa Brew, Longa
Brevi. Et secundvs constat Brevi Longa Brevi Longa Brevi Longa. Et tertius constat ex Longa
el duabus Brevibus, Longa et duabus Brevibus. Quartus constat ex duabus Brevibus et
Longa, &c. This tract is the last of the three fragments that are bound tip in the same volume,
the initial sentence of which is—Cognita Modulations melorum secundum viam octo Tonorum.
(») As the Mnrim is not mentioned in this tract it must be more ancient than the time of
its invention, about the beginning of the fourteenth century.
(x) See Book I. p. 75 et seq.
536
THE FORMATION OF THE TTVLE-TABLH
Long he calls the first and principal of all the notes, for in that
all others are included. " The perfect note, is that which is
measured by three times, or portions; the Ternary division being
the most perfect of all, as it had its name from the Holy Trinity,
which is true and pure perfection (y)."
The perfect Long is represented by a square note with a tail
on the right hand, descending as thus : q • q q This is equal
to three Breves. The imperfect Long, represented by the same
figure, is equal only to two. "It is imperfect for the reason
already assigned," says Franco, "and can only acquire its full length
by the addition of a Breve before or after it. "Whence it follows/'
continues he, " that those err who call it perfect; as that only is
entire and complete which can stand by itself (2)."
It seems, by this passage, as if there had been a controversy even
in Franco's time, about the greater degree of perfection of Triple,
or Common Time; in after ages, however, the Binary number
acquired the pre-eminence, and was called perfect, while the triple
proportion was degraded into imperfect.
Though Franco mentions not the Maxima or Large, he tells us
that the double Long is made thus, and consists of the union of
two longs: =BBKZBH^=aHHpHHBp to which it is equal:
" Nor, when used in the tenor parts of a plain-song, can it be
broken or divided (a)."
The Breve, which is a square note without a tail, may, however,
be divided, being either perfect or imperfect: •••• The
Semibreve, which is either major or minor, is constantly written in
the form of a lozenge, thus : 4444"
The length of the notes, that is the perfection or imperfection,
triple or doable power, depended on their arrangement ; and it
seems as if when two or more notes of the same kind followed each
other, they were always perfect, that is, equal to three notes of the
next inferior degree. But when a shorter note either preceded or
followed a longer, then the long npte was imperfect, that is, equal
only to the next two of a shorter kind; and the deficiency was made
up by a preceding or succeeding short note.
But all this perplexity was removed when the Point came into
general use. Franco speaks of the Tractulus as a sign of perfection,
in the same manner as we should now speak of the Point, which,
indeed, he uses' in some of his examples, for the same purpose as it
is used at present: for he tells us that it makes the Long perfect,
(y) Per feet a autem dicitur eo quod tribus temporibus mensuratur. Est vero trinarius inter
omnes numeros peiiectissimus pro eo quia a summa Trinitate, qua vera est et jura pcrjectio,
nomen sumpsit.
(z) Ex quo sequitur quod illi peccant qui earn rectam appellant, cum ittud quod est
rectum possit per se stare.
(a) Ne series plani cantus sumpti in tenoribus disrumpatur. John de Muris, in his
Speculum Muzica, quotes Aristotle to prove that this note cannot be admitted in plain-song.
537
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
or equal to three Times or Breves, which, without it, would have
been imperfect, or equal only to two (fe) :
Ancient. Modem.
What he calls Recta Brevis is only equal to one Time, or fourth
part of a measure; so that whether it precede or follow a perfect
Long, the times of both amount to four:
I*.
Ancient.
These rules, however, are too numerous, complex, and useless,
to merit the reader's attention, or an attempt at explaining them.
Indeed, if they would help to decipher other music, composed after
the time of Franco, the curious enquirer's trouble, and my own,
might be repaired ; but there was at first so much confusion in the
Moods, and so many and so dark were the exceptions to their rules,
so numerous and jarring the opinions and decisions concerning them,
and so little agreed were musicians about the different Probations,
Points of perfection and imperfection, of increase and diminution,
division and translation, even in Morley's time, as gave occasion to
his saying, that " no two men told the same tale."
Few of the musical terms in the tract of Franco, are more difficult
to comprehend or define than the word Plica, which he calls " a
note of division of the same sound, ascending or descending." It
seems however to have been rather a note oiprolation than division,
and, like the point, to have augmented the length of the sound to
which it was applied. All we can be sure of now is its form,
which by adding a stroke to a note, shorter than its usual tail, gave
it the appearance of a plait, wrinkle, or fold, as the Latin word
Plica implies : • • .
Of these Plica, he tells us, some are added to Longs, and some
to Breves ; but seldom to Semibreves, unless in Ligatures (c). This
little stroke, which seems to have been equivalent to a short note,
tied to a longer, was added to the Long on the left side, and to the
Breve on the right, thus : tal pj — k p . It is difficult to discover
any other difference between the Plica and the Point, which he seems
to describe under the title of Tractulus, than that the Point was used
to a single note, and the Plica to one in a ligatured group.
(&) "A Long/' says he, "followed by a Breve, is rendered imperfect, nisi inter illas duas;
sc. Longean et Brevem, ponatwr quidam Tractulns qui signum perfectionis dicitur, qui et alio
nomine divisio modi appellatnr.
(c) PKcarum alia Langa, alia Brews, alia Semibrevisi sed de Semibrevibus nihil ad
prtssens intendimus, cum non in simpUdbus $guris possit Plica Semibrevis inveniri. In
Ltgatuns tamen et ordtnatiombus Setnibrevium Plica possibiKs est accipi, ut postea apparebit.
Item Pltcarum aba ascendens, aha dcscendenaft. Plica longa ascendens habet duos tractus,
quorum dexter longior est sinistro. Plica longa vero descendens similiter habet duos tractus
sed descendentes, dexterum ut firius longiorem sinistro. PKca vero brews ascendens est, quia
habet duos tractus ascendentes, sinistrum tamen longiorem dextero, &c.
533
THE FORMATION OF THE TIME-TABLE
Authors who have treated of the ancient Time-table and Cantus
Mensurabilis, are very reserved in speaking of the Plica, and afford
but scanty information concerning its properties. Some have
defined it " the perpendicular stroke which is the termination of
such characters as the Long." But according to the original import
of the word, as there must be two strokes or tails to form a Plica or
plait, this explanation is equally false and devoid of meaning. The
musical use of this word is unnoticed by Du Cange, nor does it once
occur in Morley. It has had admission into no musical dictionary
but that of Rousseau, who describes, but does not define it. " The
Plica/' says he, " is a kind of ligature in our ancient music. It
was a sign of augmentation or increase of a note's length, Signum
Mprositatis, according to John de Muris. The Plica, like the
Ligature, was used in any group of notes from the semi-tone to the
5th, ascending or descending. There were four kinds of Plica:
1. An additional small stroke to a Long on the left side, y 2.
An additional stroke to the same note inverted, ^ 3. A Breve
with two strokes or tails added to the top of the note, of which that
on the left hand is the longest, y . And 4. Two strokes added to the
same kind of note descending (•!."*
In chapter the third Franco treats of Ligatures, or compound
notes. A Ligature, as the word implies, is a band or link by which
simple notes are connected and tied together. Of these some are
ascending and some descending. At present we only tie the tails
of quavers and notes of a shorter duration ; but the old masters
tied or linked together the heads of square notes. The ascending
Ligature is when the end of the note, or, as Franco calls it, the
second point of it, is higher than the beginning or first part of the
character.
In Canto Fermo, Ligatures are still used in all the Roman missals
and breviaries, to connect as many notes together as are to be sung
to one syllable, but without altering their lengths ; sine proprietate,
as Franco says. Of these, instances may be seen in this volume
(d). In the ancient Cantus Mensuratus, however, the laws and
properties of Ligatures were innumerable. Of these I shall give a
few examples from Franco himself, as the most ancient that have
been preserved, if not the first in use.
(<*) P. 431, 434 and 471.
* The information given about the Plica is incorrect. Lack of space forbids an explanation
of this Grace-note, but the reader is referred to Grove's Vol. 3, Art. Notation, p. 653, for a
539
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
" The value of notes in ligatures," says Rousseau, " depended
very much upon their ascending and descending, upon the manner
in which they were tied, upon their being with or without tails, and
upon those tails being placed on the left or right side of the notes ;
in short, they were under the regulation of so many laws, which are
wholly obsolete at present, that perhaps there is not one musician
iu Europe able to decipher music of any considerable antiquity (e)."
However wrhen we are arrived at compositions worth deciphering,
such of the primitive characters as occur in them shall be explained.*
Franco's fourth chapter concerns Rests and Pauses, or
discontinuity of sound. ' ' As the sounds in each Mood are expressed
by different notes or figures, and as Discant itself is as much
regulated by silence as by sound, it will be necessary to treat not
only of the signs or representatives of sounds, but of their equivalent
rests, or pauses (/)." Of these characters for measuring silence,
which, he says, are subject to the same laws of perfection and
imperfection as their equivalent notes, he gives the following
example, in which the Semibreves or Ciphers seem only placed as
double Bars, to separate the different species of Rests :
II " I
-tP-
There appears but little order or design in this arrangement
of the Rests, which are said in the text to be of six kinds : 1. that
of the perfect Long, equal to three Breves; 2. the imperfect Long,
equal to two Breves; 3. the Breve; 4. the Major Semibreve; 5. the
Minor Semibreve; 6. the Final Pause, or, as he calk it, Finis
Punctorum; all which he characterises hi the following manner :
But the most curious part of this chapter is that which seems
to point out the origin of Bars* which are placed, in the musical
(e) Diet. Art. Ligature.
(/) Cum autem istorum Modorum voces sint causa et principium et earunt vocum sint
note manifestum est, id circo de notis vel figuris, quod idem estt est tractandum. Bed cum ipse
Discantus tarn voce recta quam ejus contrario, hoc est voce obmissa, reguletur, et ista sint
diversa, horum erunt diversa signa, quia diversorum signa sunt diversa.
*Here again lack of space prohibits any summary of the Franconian notation with
reference to ligatures. Explanation of many forms of ligatures will be found in the Oxford
History of Music, Vol. i (ist edition), and in Grove's Art. Notation, Vol. 3, p. 659, will be
found a table of rules as to the correct interpretation of the ligatures, Barney's interpretation of
the example is incorrect.
** These forms were used to indicate a rest of considerable length. Towards the end of this
resting period a colon (:) was written, and after that the exact notation for rests (given in the
next diagram) had to be used.
54Q
THE FORMATION OF THE TIME-TABLE
examples, as pauses for the singers to take breath at the end of a
sentence, verse, or melody (g). And this is the only use that is
made of Bars, at present in Canto Fermo.
The following fragments I shall give as specimens of Franco's
melody, and his method of dividing it into phrases, by lines drawn
through the staff, in the manner of Bars.
-I*-
s
-w-
The first of these fragments consists chiefly of Trochees, and the
second of Iambics. They are both regularly phrased, and, when
expressed by modern characters, have not a very barbarous
appearance.
S
Mater
£
These melodies seem to belong to his second and fifth moods.
Whoever compares the notation of Franco with that of Guido,
or any writer of the eleventh or twelfth centuries, must be greatly
astonished at its method, simplicity, and clearness. For though he
uses but three characters, or distinct forms of notes, yet those, with
their several properties of prolation and diminution, furnished a
great variety of measures and proportions. And if, with improve-
ments in notation and harmony, he be allowed to have suggested
the Bar, and the Point of augmentation, the benefits he has
conferred upon practical music will entitle him to a veiy conspicuous
and honourable place among the founders and legislators of the
art. Indeed, I have been able to find no considerable improvements
in the Time-table between the eleventh and the fourteenth century;
when the chief merit of several authors in the Cantus Mensurabilis,
whose names and writings are come down to us, was to dilute the
discoveries of Franco, and pour water on his leaves.
(g) Finis Punctorum omnes lineas attingens quatuor sptria comprehend.**. It appears from
this passage, that notes, after they ceased to be round, continued to be called Points an
appellation which gave birth to the term Contrapunctutn, at a time -when notes had affirmed
a square and lozenge form.
The earliest use I have been able to find of the word Contrafiunctum, is in a manuscript
tract on that subject, by John de Muris, see p. 510.
541
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The next author on the Cantus Mensurabilis, or Measured-Song,
whose writings have been preserved, is our countryman Walter
Odington, monk of Evesham, of whose valuable treatise, in Benet,
college, Cambridge, an ample account has been already given in
the preceding chapter, as far as it concerned plain-song, and
organizing, or simple harmony; but an account of his rules for
measure, which are contained in the sixth and last part of his
work, De Speculatione Musiccs, was reserved for this place, where
it will fill up a chasm in the history of that important part of music,
which has been left void by all other treatises that I have been
able to consult.
It has been hastily determined by some who have seen no part
of this work but the mere titles of the books it contains, in Tanner's
Bibliotheca Britannica, that not one of them professes to treat of
the Cantus Mensurabilis; yet, on the contrary, in the sixth part,
where he not only gives rules for organizing, or music in parts, but
for the composition of figurative music, De Compositione et
Figuratione, we have chapters on the following subjects : De Longis,
Brevibus, et Semibrevibus; De Plicis; Quot Modis Longa perfecta
et imperfecta dicitur; De Pausis; De Ligaturis, &c. The fourth
book, De Inequalitate Temporum in Pedibus, quibus Metra et
Rhythmi decurrunt, contains indeed terms that ceased to be made
use of after the invention of the Cantus Mensurabilis. However,
these terms have not yet ceased to be applied to poetical numbers,
concerning which this book of Odington only treats.
In the former part of his work the author, treating chiefly of
Canto Piano, or ecclesiastical chanting, in a way somewhat different
from his predecessors, particularly in his Notation, never mentions
Organizing, or Measured Music; but in this last part, he treats of
both in a very ample manner, and so much in the order and terms
of Franco, as would have been impossible, had he not seen his
tract, or, at least, his doctrines, in some other writer.
In one of the chapters of this last part, which treats of the
perfect and imperfect Moo.ds, and their Mutations, he compares
musical Times to poetical Feet, in a more full, dear, and ingenious
manner than has been done since by any other writer.
The author declares in his last chapter, that he has nothing
to fear from the severity of fastidious critics; as his intention was
not so much to invent rules of his own, as to collect the precepts
and opinions of his predecessors. However, he seems to have
been the first that suggested a shorter note than the Semibreve,
though he did not give it a form: for, cap. i. part vi. we have the
following passage:— Jfo Semibrevem primd divido in ires paries
quas Minima* voco, Figuras retinens Semibrevis, ne ab aliis Musicis
videar discedere; verum cum Brevis, divisa in .duas Semibreves,
sequitur divisam in tres partes, ut in tres partes et duas divisiones
pono — sic t ii* »»Hh- — qua MINDOB seu velocissima, et sic
de dltis, Where he seems to $ay> " J diyig§ the Semibreve into
54?
THE FORMATION OF THE TIME-TABLE
three parts — still retaining the figure of the semibreve-— lest I should
seem to depart from the doctrine of others." — The text is much
abbreviated here, and veiy difficult to .decipher; however, he
certainly speaks of smaller portions of time than the Semibreve,
and calls these portions Minima Paries; which seems to entitle Him
to the invention of the name of Minim, though not of the note by
which it is characterised; at least, this is the first time that I have
met with the mention of a quicker note than the Semibreve.
^A Commentary upon Franco's Tract, De Musica Mensurabili,
written by Robert de Handlo near a hundred years after the treatise
by Odington, affords no new information or precepts different from
his original;* nor could it ever have been rendered valuable but by
its scarcity, or rather by the difficulty of meeting with the writings
of Franco.
The ancient copy of Haadlo's tract, dated 1326, was destroyed
by the fire which happened at Ashburnham House, Westminster
[1731], while it was the repository of the Cotton manuscripts.
However, as the modern transcript, which was made for the late
Dr. Pepusch, is lodged in the British Museum [B.M. ADD. MSS.
4909], and accessible, there seems no necessity for giving a
particular account of it. I shall only observe, that which he says
of Ligatures and their several properties is literally copied from
Franco. The Plica is much better defined and explained in the
original text than in Handle's annotations, in which, though the
title promises additional discoveries of other musicians, Regula cum
maximis Magistri Franconis, cum additionibus aliorum Musicorum,
we find no new modes or notes except a strange kind of Long,
divided into quadrangles LLJL I I I to augment its length, which
has never been used in any music that I have seen; and the
thirteen Rubrics into which this tract is divided, concern nothing
but Time, or musical Measures, and are only a commentary upon
th3 four first chapters of Franco's tract; the two last, which treat
of Discant, being never mentioned.
Many whimsical and fantastical forms of notes were proposed
by different musical writers between the time of Franco and the
invention of printing; but none were received into general use except
those already mentioned, if the addition of the Minim and Crotchet
be excepted, of which notice will be given hereafter. Musical
characters remained full, or black,** for several centuries after this
invention ; nor do I find any white, or open notes, in old
manuscripts, before the fifteenth century. Those of Guillaume
*,« trt"6 ^r'siiotes^p. 535, with regard to this and p. 515 as to the date of Odington. The
full title of Handle's tract is Regulae cum ma&mts magistri Franconis, cum additionibus
aliorum mustcorum.
*# Red notes were also employed, but the laws governing their use are not altogether dear
One use of the red no* was to indicate a change of mood. According to Philip de Vitry
(d. 1361) they changed Perfect to Imperfect and vice versa. In other cases they indicate singing
the passage an octave higher than written. One writer, Philip of Caserta, says that an6pen
white note had the same significance as a red note and could be used by the composer ifhe
had no red ink.
543
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Machault [c. 1300 — 1377], a French musician, who lived about
1350, and whose compositions are preserved, have no open notes (h).
It is the opinion of P. Martini (i), and the prince abbot of St.
Blaise (k), two diligent enquirers, who seldom build conjectures
upon a weak foundation, that Accents and Points, enlarged,
disfigured, and lengthened, became musical characters for Time as
well as Tune. At first, when lines and spaces were used, from their
being chiefly employed in a square form for writing the chants
established by St. Gregory, they acquired the name of Gregorian
Notes, Quadrata, and in barbarous Latin, Quadriquarta. As the
church is slow in receiving new doctrines, and generally a century
later in admitting those improvements or corruptions in music (the
reader may call them which he pleases) that are adopted by the
laity as the fortunate efforts of cultivated genius, the notation of
chants was at first censured and prohibited by several councils (Q;
and it has already been shewn, that figurative Harmony being
regarded as a crying sin by Pope John XXII, was formally
excommunicated by a Bull from the Conclave, 1322 (m).
With respect to the various forms of the first notes that were used
for Time, it is not difficult to deduce them wholly from the black
square note, called a Breve, the first and almost only note used in
Canto Fenno ; which, with a foot or tail to it, is a Long, and if
doubled in breadth, a Large. The square note also placed on one of
its angles, differs very little from the Rhombus or Lozenge, and with
a tail placed at its lowest angle, when open, becomes a Minim, and,
when full, a Crotchet.
Vicentino (n), and Kircher (o), with more ingenuity than truth,
imagined all the notes to have been derived from the Natural and
Flat \2 b» or square and round B, as they appear in Gothic
manuscripts ; because, say they, the square tk which is itself a
Long, if the tail be taken away, becomes a Breve, and the round b,
which represents a Minim, by removing the tail is made a Semibreve,
as, when filled up with ink, it is a Crotchet. But these authors, of
whose writings we shall have further occasion to speak hereafter,
forgot, or where wholly ignorant, that the Long and Breve were
entirely black for several ages after their invention; and that the
open Semibreve and Minim were unknown till the fourteenth
century.
Neither Franco, nor his Commentator, formed the several notes
which they described into a Table, in the manner which it was the
custom to do immediately after the time of Handlo; though an
elaborate and complicated diagram, in appearance, might have been
(h) Notice Sommaire de deux Volumes de Poesies Francoises et Latinis, conservees dans
la Bibl. des Cannes-dechaux de Paris; avec une Indication dn genre de Mvsique qui s'y trouve.
Pair VAbbe Lebevf. Mem. de litt torn, xxxiv. 8vo. p. 120. An account of these manuscripts
will be given hereafter.
(*) Sioria deUa Mus. torn. i. p. 185.
(&) De Canto et Mus. Sacra, tomus ii. p. 63.
(J) De Cantu et Mtts. Sacra, tomus ii. p. fe, et seq.
(m) Seep. 511.
(*) L'Antica Mtt&ca Ridotfa alia Modern* Prattled. Roma. 1555.
(o) Jlursurg. p. 556.
544
THE FORMATION OF THE TIME-TABLE
constructed out of the seeming scant materials of three notes, if their
perfect, and imperfect, or triple and double powers, had been taken
into the account. Nor do these signs of prolation and the relative
value of notes, O 0 6 $, which were afterwards prefixed to every
melody, occur in the writings of Franco ; but it will be time enough
to supply these omissions, when the metrical part of music shall be
furnished with more characters.
More pains have been taken to point out and explain the musical
doctrines of Guido and Franco than of any other theorists of the
middle ages; their tracts having been regarded as original institutes,
which succeeding writers have done little more than copy or
comment. John Cotton is the commentator of Guido, as Robert de
Handlo is of Franco; and John de Muris, in his Speculum Musiccz,
is little more. However, in the succeeding century, Prosdocimus de
Beldemandis wrote an exposition of the doctrines contained in the
Practica Mensurabilis Cantus of John de Muris: and thus we go
on from age to age, reviving old opinions, and adding little to the
common and limited stock of human knowledge I It is humiliating
to reflect, that the discoveries of one age barely serve to repair the
losses of another; and that while we imagine ourselves advancing
towards perfection, we seem, like muffled horses in a mill, but
pursuing the same circle !
JOHN DE MURIS is by some stiled a doctor and canon of the
Sorbonne (p), by some a mathematician and philosopher (5), and
by others a chanter of the church of Notre-Dame at Paris (r). His
country is likewise disputed: for though the general opinion be that
he was born at Meurs in Normandy, whence he had his name, yet,
by a typographical error, he is called Parmigiano in Bontempi,
instead of Parigino, which makes him a native of Parma instead of
Paris (s). But though he has no title to the first invention of the
Time-table, he must certainly have been a great benefactor to
practical music by his numerous writings on the subject, which
doubtless threw new lights upon the art, as may be better imagined
now from the gratitude of his successors, by whom he so frequently
quoted and commended, than from the writings themselves, which
Time, to whom he was supposed to be so great a friend, has
rendered totally useless, and almost unintelligible.
But though he is intitted to an honourable place among musical
worthies ; yet, as both his country and profession have been
disputed, all that can be done to gratify the reader's curiosity
concerning him, is to give a complete list of his works that are still
preserved in the several libraries of Europe ; and from their titles
and contents to deduce at least a probable opinion of other
circumstances concerning Mm.
(£) Rousseau, Diet, de Mus. Docteur et Chanoine de Paris.
(q) Walther, Musicalisches Lexicon. Fabricius, Bib. Lai. Med. et Inf. JBtat.
(r) Meisenne, Harm. Univ. Liv. des Consonances, p. 84-
(s} I call it a typographical error, in order to acquit Bontempi of making J. de Muris an
Italian, either from ignorance or want of integrity; as I am in possession of a proof-copy of his
Sforia delta Musica, in which, among other corrections made in his own hand, the word
Parmigiano is changed to Parigitto.
Vox,, i. 35- 545
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Besides the tract in the Vatican library, which has been already
specified p. 529, I found there three others by de Muris, on the
subject of music: of the two first, which are in the same volume
(No. 5321) one is " a Treatise on Time, or Measured Music ":
Joannis de Muris Practica Cantus Mensurabtiis, pr. Quilibet in
Arte (t); and the other "a Compendium of Counterpoint":
Joannis .de Muris Ars Summaria Contrapuncti—pr. Volentibus
introduci. The third, which is among the Queen of Sweden's manu-
scripts (1728), consists of " Musical Theorems explained in Verse" :
Joan, de Muris Theoremata Musica Versibus explicate*
In the king of France's library at Paris there are two copies of
his Speculum Musicte, or Mirror of Music, m seven books^w), which
is the principal and most ample of all his musical writings. This
is the work mentioned by Mersennus, Du Cange, and Rousseau, and
in which they all tried in vain as well as myself, to find proofs of
his having been the inventor of the Time-table.
Rousseau has given two considerable quotations from this work
in his Musical Dictionary, article Discant, which de Muris defines
" The singing extempore with one or more persons in different
Concords, in such a manner as to produce One Harmony (#)."
After which he explains what he means by Concords, and the choice
that should be made of them upon these occasions. He then severely
censures the singers of his time for their ignorance and indiscriminate
use of them. " If our rules are good, with what front," says he,
" do those dare to discant or compose, who are so ignorant of
Concords as not to know which are more or less pleasing, which
ought to be avoided, or most frequently used ; where to introduce
them, or any thing that concerns the true practice of the art? If
they accord it is by mere chance ; their voices wander about the
tenor or plain-song without rule, trusting wholly to Providence for
their coincidence. They throw sounds about at random, as
awkward people throw stones at a mark, without hitting it once in
a hundred times."
The good master Muris then proceeds to flagellate with great
fury these corruptors of the pure and simple harmony of his time :
" Heul proh dolor i His temporibus aliqui suum defection inepto
proverbio colorare moliuntur. Iste est, iniquiunt, novus dis-
cantandi modus, novis scilicet uti consonantiis; offendunt ii
intellectum eorum, qui tales def ectus agnoscunt, offendunt sensum :
nam inducere cum deberent delectationem, adducunt tnstitiam. O
incongruuin proverbium 1 O mala coloratio, irrationabilis excusatio !
O magnus abusus, magna ruditas, magna bestialitas, ut asinus
sumatur pro homine, capra pro leone, ovis pro pisce, serpens pro
(t} This tract is likewise in Benet college, Cambridge, No. 410, in the same vol. as Walter
Arlington's treatise, though the author has been hitherto unknown.
(«) No. 7207, 7208 [7207A].
(x) Discantat qui simul cum uno vel £luribtts dulciter cantat, ut ex distinctis sonis sonus
unus fiat, non unitate simplicitaiis, sed dulcis cencordisque tnixtiojiis unions.
*The Ars Summaria Contrapuncti is only a digest of the teachings of de Muris and
probably by some other writer, and from internal evidence it is hardly likely that the Practica
Contus Mensur&biUs can be his work. Coussemaker reprinted both these tracts in the third
volume of the Scriptores.
546
THE FORMATION OF THE TIME-TABLE
salmone! Sic enim concordias confunduntur cum discordiis, ut
nullatenus ima distinguatur ab alii. O ! si antiqui periti Musicae
Doctores tales audissent discantatores, quid dixissent? Quid
fecissent? Sic discantantem increparent, et dicerent: non hunc
discantum, quo uteris, de me sumis. Non tuum cantum unum et
concordantem cum me facis. De quo te intromittis? Mihi non
congruis, mihi adversarius, scandalum tu mihi es ; 0 utinam taceres !
non concordas, sed deliras et discordas (y)."
As all the tracts in the list of his writings which concern music
have been carefully examined, I shall endeavour to convey to the
reader an idea of their contents.
The tract which begins Quoniam Musica est de Sono relato ad
Numeros, is now marked Bodl. 300 [339]. It is a treatise of
Harmonics, in which the circulur and conical diagrams and divisions
of the scale are innumerable. The author is as fond of the circle in
this work, as Tartini was four hundred years after. The transcriber
has however omitted many of these illustrations of his doctrines, by
which perhaps the injury to musical students of the present age is
not very considerable.—. Explicit Musica Magistri Johannis de Muris.
What follows in the manuscript is manifestly a continuation of
the subject, and a second part of the preceding tract. It begins
thus: Princeps Philosophorum Aristoteles ait in Principio
Mathematics sues omnino Scientis Signum est posse docere. We
find, after the introduction, a repetition of the initial sentence of the
(y) The Latin of this passage is so obsolete and monkish, that it seems as
if it would fell more naturally into English of the sixteenth century, than into that of
the present times. " But, alas ! in these our dayes, some do stryve to glosse
over theyr lacke of skyll with silly sayenges. This, cry they, is the newe method of discantynge,
these be the newe Concordes.— Howbeit they grievously offend thereby both the hearing, and the
understanding of suche as be skylled to judge of theyr defects; for where we look for delight,
they induce sadr.esse. O incongruous sayenge! 0 wretched glosse! irrational excuse! 0
monstrous abuse! most rude and bestial ignoraunce! to take an asse for a man, a goat for a
lyon, a sheepe for a fishe, a snake for a salmone! For in suche sorte do they confound
Concordes with discordes, as ye shall in no wise discerne the one from the other. O! if the
good old maysters of former tyme did hear suche discanters, what wolde they say or do? Out
of doubte they woulde thus chyde them and say, "This discant, whereof ye now make use,
ye do not take it from me; ye do in no wyse frame yoursonge to be concordaunt with me;
wherefore do ye trust yourselves in? ye do not agree with me; ye are an adversary, and a
scandal unto me. 0 that ye wolde be dumb ! This is not concordynge, but most doatynge and
delyrious discordynge."
Concerning the writings upon various subjects by John de Muris that are still preserved
among the manuscripts of the Bodleian and Museum libraries, I shall transcribe the account
given in Tanner's Bibliotkeca Britannica. p. 537» which is so ample as to need little addition.
" John de Murs or Mnrus. an Englishman, and an eminent philosopher, mathematician,
and muscian, wrote Ex Stellarum positionibus prophetiam. Lib. i. 'Infra Annum certe Mundi.'
Aritkmeticam Speculativam. Lib, i. MS. Oxon. in Bibl. publ. Impress. Mogunt Tractatutn
Musicum. Lib. i. 'Quoniam Musica est de Sono relato ad Numeros.1 MS. Bodl. NE. F 10. 11.
Artem compendi (metiendi) fistulas Organorutn Secundum Guidonem. Lib. i. 'Cognita
consonantia in Chordis.' Ibid. Sufficientiam Musica Organic* editam (ita habet MS.) a Map..
Joanne de Muris, Musico Sapientissimo, et totius orbis Sujbtilissimo experto. Pr. Princeps
Philosophorum Aristoteles.* Ib Cmnftositionem Consonantiarum in Symbolis Secundum Boetittnt.
Pr. 'Omne Instramentum Musicse.1 Ib. Canones super Tabulas Alphonsinas.
Pr. ' Quia secundum Philosophum 4to Physicorum.' MS. Bodl. Digby 168. f. 132. Collectioitfm
Profihetiarum de Re£us Anglicis, per Joh. de Muris, MS. Cotton. Vespas. E VII. 8. In MS.
Bodl. Digby 190. fol. 72. extat Prologue in opus, cui Titulus: Tractates Canonum minutiarum
Phflosoohicarum et Vulgarium, quern composuit Mag. Johannes de Muris, Normannus A.
MCCCXXI. a quo eodum anno (verba sunt autoris) Notitia Artis Musica proferendse et
sigurandae tarn mensurabilis quam planse, quantum ad omnem modum posslbpem discantandi,
non solum per integra, sed usque ad minutissimas fractiones: Cognitioque circuit quadratures
perfectissime demonstrate: expositioque tabularum Alphonsi, regis Castellise: et Genealogiat
Astronomies nobis daruit,' &c. Canones de Eclipsibus. Pr. 'In oppositione habenda aliod/
MS. Bodl. Digby 97. ubi habetur hac nota: 'Hos Canones disposuit Johannes de Mnris
Parisiis in A. Mcccxxxrx. in Domo Scholarium de Sorbona.' De Conjuntione Batumi et Joins,
A. MCCCXLV. Pr. cTres Principes ex JCJitia.' MS. Bddl. Digby 176. Pal. XJ/74- Hts. a&p.
p. 872 seQ.**
547
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
first part : Quoniam Musica est de Sono relato ad Numeros. This
part, however, relates more to the practice of music than the other.
In this chapter De Tempore perfecto et imperfecto, he seems to
call Common Time perfect, and Triple Time imperfect : for he says,
quod Longa possit Imperfici per Brevem. Brevis per Semibrevem.
Semibrevis per Miniam. Quod Minima non possit imperfici.
However, by these words he perhaps only means to say that a Long,
which by itself is perfect, or equal to three Breves, by position may
be rendered imperfect, that is, equal to two Breves only, by a Breve,
the next shortest note being placed after it ; and so a Breve, which
alone, or with other Breves, is triple, becomes double by a Semibreve
following it. What he means by saying that a Miium cannot be
imperfected in the same manner, is that there was no shorter note,
the Crotchet not being then invented, to perform the operation. In
his diagrams of Musical Proportions or Time-tables, he gives but
four kinds of notes ; that is, in four columns: for in these are
manifestly five distinct forms of characters ; as • •) •
The Scale of Guido, in a perpendicular diagram ; and the
Hexachords, which are well arranged under their several
denominations of Durum, Naturale, and Molle, are exhibited in
this tract.
In the tract by John de Muris, beginning Quilibet in Arte, which
I unexpectedly found in Benet College, Cambridge [410], in the
same volume as Odington's treatise, the notes are divided into five
classes: Quinque sunt Paries, Prolationis, videlicit Maxima, Longa,
Brevis, Semibrevis et Minima, ut hie — giving the same characters
as in the tract just mentioned ; and here, likewise, his doctrine agrees
\\ith that in his other treatise, where he seems to call the triple
proportions imperfect, and the dual perfect.
This is the most ancient manuscript in which I have found the
signs of the modes, C G 0 8, and the Punctum Perfections. Here
it plainly appears that the Punctum, or point, in John de Muris
operates in the same manner as that already described in Franco,
p. 537, where it makes the note to which it is prefixed perfect, that
is, of three times ; and the calling it Punctum Perfections, or Point
of Perfection, proves its power of making a double quantity triple,
as at present. At the bottom of fol. 6, is written, Explicit Tractatus
Joannis de Muris; however, it goes on for fifteen pages more. Here
I first saw an open or white Minim ^ & , and a half lozenge note |^ .
The ink is pale, and the writing very bad, and difficult to decipher ;
but the manuscript, which is written on paper of a coarse texture,
seems entire, and corresponds in every particular with that in
the Vatican library, No. 5321, which has been already mentioned,
p. 546. It was this treatise which Prosdocimo de Beldemandis of
Padua, a voluminous writer on music in the beginning of the fifteenth
century, thought of sufficient importance to merit a Commentary,
which is now in the possession of Padre Martini of Bologna (*).
(z) Practice Mexsurabms Cantus, Mag. Joan de Muris, de Nonnandia, alias Parisiensis,
cum exposit Posdocum de-Beldemandis Patav. MS. an. 1404. ^^ .*•«»««».
548
THE FORMATION OF THE TIME-TABLE
The tract by J. de Muris, in the Bodleian library [339], upon
the measures, and proportions of organ pipes according to Guido,
beginning Omne Instrumentum Musice, is very short, and contains
nothing very important to music at present. It is not known that
Guido ever wrote on the same subject, and de Muris only means
by secundum Guidonem, to say that he has followed the same
proportions which Guido established in his division of the
monochord.
In another short tract of the same volume he follows Boethius.
And in his Tr&ctatus Canonum minutiarum Philosophicarum et
vulgarium, where he tells us that he had composed at the same
time "a Treatise on the Art of Music, teaching and describing in
Figures or Notes both Measured and Plain-Song, with every possible
Kind of Discant, not only by Integers or long Notes, but by the
shortest and most minute Fractions (a), he probably alludes to
his Speculum Musicce, in seven books, which seems the most
voluminous of all his writings. See p. 546.
With respect to the dispute concerning the place of his nativity,
though Tanner, copying Pits and Bale, calls him an Englishman,
yet we find that in the title of one of the manuscripts of the Bodleian
library, in Tanner's list, he is called a Norman, and in another a
Parisian. Padre Martini (6) likewise quotes a manuscript of the
year 1404, in which he is called the Great John de Muris, de
Normandia alias Parisiensis.
Having taken some pains to trace the opinion of his being ^an
Englishman to its source, I have been able to find no such title
given to him in any of his numerous writings that have been
preserved in manuscript throughout Europe. The assertion rests
entirely on Robert Record, a physician at Cambridge, and one of
the first writers upon science in the English language. His works
were very voluminous, of which, however, little more remain than
the titles preserved in Pits' account of him, which says that he was
living in 1552 (c); at least I have never been able to procure any of
his writings, except his Arithmetic, printed in black letter 1543.
And as John de Muris had written on the same subject (d), I had
hopes of meeting in this tract with the place where Record calls
him an Englishman; but no such could be found.
Pits (e) calls him an English mathematician, and says^' he was
a man of some genius, but possessed of too daring a curiosity; for
while he was studying philosophy, he addicted himself to mathe-
matics, and to that more sublime part of astronomy which
contemplates the heavens: and in the exercise of his genius for
calculation he had the insolence to predict future events; thus
persuading the ignorant and vulgar, that by the aspect of the
(a) See the list of his works from Tanner [p. 547. note &)]•
(6) Stork d&a Musica, p. 461. torn. i.
(*) Append. Illvst. Aug. Script, torn. i. p. 872.
(d) Aritkmeticam Speculativam, lib. duos.
(e) LOG. Cit.
549
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
stars he could penetrate the decrees of Providence. He dared to
publish celestial secrets under the title of Prophetiarum, prophecies
These particulars, and many more, he says, were collected from
Robert Record. But neither from him, nor any one else, was he
able to discover at what time he lived. Bale, who calls ^him a
mathematician and a conjurer (g), gives the same authority for
his being an Englishman.
This bare assertion, made at a time when it was not so
customary to give or expect proofs and critical exactness in support
of facts as at present, has not only been copied without farther
enquiry by Pits, Bale, and Tanner, at home, but by Fabricius, and
other respectable writers on the continent. A Latin distich, by an
anonymous writer (h), which had been quoted in favour of this
opinion, can add but little to its weight, when it is known to come
from the most ignorant and monkish of writers, the author of a
treatise De Origins et Effectu Musice, written 1451; who tells us that
" Cyrus lived soon after the deluge; that one king Enchiridias was
a writer on music," mistaking, I suppose, some Enchiridion which
he had seen, for the name of a royal author. And that " Thubal
kept a blacksmith's shop, at which Pythagoras adjusted the
consonances by the sound of his hammers."
But if, instead of a distich, we take the four last lines of these
barbarous verses, with their true punctuation, thus:
Pausas, juncturas, facturas, atque figtiras
Mensuratarum formavit Franco notarum',
Et Ihon De Muris, variis floruitque figuris.
Anglia cantorum omen [f . nomen\ gignit plurimorum (*)
they will be found no more to prove John de Muris an Englishman,
than Franco, as both contributed to the progress of music in this
kingdom; and it may as well be insisted upon, that, because
Metastasio has enriched this country with many beautiful songs,
he must consequently be a native of England. Indeed, it is
difficult to assign any meaning to the last verse; or even to divine
what it is "to beget an omen."
That monks and persons of learning, for many centuries before
the Reformation, were more frequently distinguished by the name
of the place which gave them birth, joined to their baptism
(/) Judicial^ Astrology^was then the reigning folly of philosophers and^ learned men.
Robert the Good, king of Sicily, so renowned for wisdom and science, that Boccaccio called
him the wisest prince who had reigned since king Solomon, sent his predictions to his cousin
king Philip de Valois, then at war with our Edward the third. Indeed, most of the musical
writers of 'those times studied the stars, perhaps for the sake of Spherical Music; and as the
tonsor and surgeon were long united in thfe country, so we find music and astrology constant
companions. Walter Odington is said to have been an "able astrologer and musician." The
same is said of Simon Tunsted, and Theinred, of jDover.
(g) Matkematicvs et Votes.
(k) Ihon, de Muris, variis floruitque figuris,
Angtia cantorum omen gignit plurimorum.
(*) Extracted from the manuscript of Waltham Holy Cross: once the property of the
_j Mr. West, president of the Royal Society, but ' " .-..-.,
Shelbume. [Now in the B.M. Landsdowne MS. 763}.
550
late. Mr. West, president _of _the Royal Society, but now in the possession of the 'Earl of
*" "* £Nw ••••*•••••• .«-»
THE FORMATION OF THE TIME-TABLE
appellation, than by their family name, is most certain : as Guido
Aretimis, Geoffry of Monmouth, Henry of Huntingdon, William
of Malmsbury, John of Salisbury, Mathew of Westminster, &c.,
who have been always supposed natives, or, at least, inhabitants,
of the several places by which they were called. Now, though no
town in Normandy of the name of Meurs can be found, either in
maps or geographical books, yet, as there are several places so
called in France, particularly one in Touraine, and another in
Anjou, near Angers (£), which, by giving birth to our John,
served to distinguish him from his innumerable namesakes of
other kingdoms, cities, and professions; and as no satisfactory or
probable reason has been assigned for supposing him an Englishman,
nor can any one be now suggested except a patriotic desire of
appropriating to our own country a man whose learning and talents
have been long celebrated, it is but just to restore him to that
country which seems to have the fairest claim to him.
John de Muris, though not the inventor of the Cantus
Mensurabilis, seems by his numerous writings greatly to have
improved it. Indeed, every species of note to be found in his tract,
except the Minim, is described in Franco, as well as used in
compositions anterior to his time, and mentioned by authors who
wrote upon music before him. Nor is it possible to imagine that
this art was invented and received by all Europe at once: like
others, it had its beginning, improvements, and perfection^ in
different periods of time. His Art of Counterpoint (J), of which I
procured a copy at Rome, though comprised in a few pages, is,
however, the most dear and useful tract on the suBject, which those
times could boast.*
He begins by informing the reader, that beyond the Octave all
is repetition. That "within the Octave there are six species of
Concord; three perfect, and three imperfect: of the first kind are
the Unison, 8th, and 5th; and of the second, the two 3ds, and
Major 6th. The first of the perfect kind is the Unison, which,
though by some not allowed to be a Concord, yet, according to
Boethius, is the source and origin of all consonance. The unison
naturally requires after it a Minor 3d; which on the contrary, for
variety, is best succeeded by a perfect Concord. The 5th being of
the perfect kind, is well followed by a Major 3d, and i contra.
The Octave, another perfect Concord, may be succeeded by the
Major 6th; after which, either a perfect or imperfect Concorxl may
be taken. It is the same with the Minor 3d, which, being of the
imperfect kind, may be succeeded either by a perfect or imperfect
(K) MEUR, en Touraine. diocese de Tours,t fiarkment d& i Paris. 4^^' ju
MEURS. Bourg, en Anjou. diocese et election de Laqn. jarlememt de Pans, instance de
Tours, ce Bourg est situe pres de la rive gauche de la Loire. Diet. Geographique, Hist, et Polit.
des Gaules et de France, par I' Abbe Expffly. Tom. iv. Amst. 1766.
In the Diet. UniverseSe de la Franc* fce same situation is given to this village, except its
being in the election of Angers. ...'..
(1) Ars Contrapuncti. Jo. de Muris. Ex. MS. Vat. sya-
* See editor's note on p. 546 with regard to the Ars Swmmaria Contrap»ncti.
There does not seem to be any reason for looWng upon de. Mure as •**5£$£££SL
ways he must be regarded as being very conservative m his attitude towards the musical theory
of his time. , JCKT
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Concord. The Major 3d, though best followed by a 5th, yet may
be succeeded by another 3d, but then it must be Minor. The Major
6th too, though best followed by an 8th, may yet be succeeded
either by a perfect or imperfect Concord of another species, for the
sake of variety; it can be followed by a 5th only when the under
part rises a Major or Minor 3d; but by 3ds and 6ths at pleasure.
Every composition should begin and end in a perfect Concord; and
it must be remembered that no two parts should ascend or descend
in perfect Concords, though imperfect may be used without limita-
tion: and lastly, care must be taken, that when the under part
ascends, the upper should descend, and the contrary.
Most of these rules were given by Franco, but with less
clearness and precision; and as they win not only shew that
Harmony had made some progress hi the fourteenth century, but
are such as would not shock modern ears, I shall present them to
the musical reader, in notes.
MAJ &h OR MN- 3rd
The Minor 6th, I know not why, is called a Discord by Franco,
and has no admission among Concords, by John de Muris; though
it is only an inversion of the Major 3d, which both allow to be a
Concord.
John ,de Muris makes no mention of the 4th in this tract,
though, in his Speculum Musica, he gives rules for discanting
in a succession of Fourths, under the barbarous term,
Diatessaronare.
Prosdocimus de Beldemandis (m) is the first who allows the
minor 6th a place in the catalogue of Concords, and is explicit in
speaking of the 4th as a Discord. However, he says it is less a
Discord than the 2d or 7th, and may be placed in a middle class,
between Concords and Discords.
But earlier writers than Prosdocimo must here have a place
after John de Muris, and among these PHILIPPUS DE VITRIACO
deserves notice, not only as one of the most ancient writers on
Counterpoint, whose tract is preserved in the Vatican library (ri),
from which I procured a copy; but as the reputed inventor of the
Minim, and a composer of Motets, which have been very much
celebrated by old musical writers.*
(m) In a tract upon Counterpoint among the Vatican MSS. No. 5321, written 1412.
(») Ars Contrapuncti, secwtdum Phfflippum de Vitriaco. Ex MS. Vat. 5321.
* The extant works by de Vitry are as follows:—
(i) Ars Nova; (2) Ars Perfccia (considered by some as of doubtful authenticity); (3)
Liber MusicaKant (which contains mention of red notes); and (4) Ars
Contrapunctum. Coussemaker reprinted all these in the Scriptores (Vol. 3). No
compositions by de Vitry are known to be extant.
552
THE FORMATION OF THE TIME-TABLE
The name of Philip de Vitriaco [c. 1285/95—1361] very
frequently occurs in ancient authors, particularly in England,
where he has been commended both in verse and prose. William
Cornish, chapelman to the most famouse and noble kynge Henry
VII. in a parable between Trouth and Information, published in
Skelton's works, 12mo. 1736, names him among the greatest
musicians upon record.
And the first principal, whose name was Tuballe,
Guido, Boice, John de Muris, Vitryaco, and them al.
An anonymous Latin writer in the Cotton musical manuscript,
which will be described hereafter, says he invented the Minim, and
was a musician universally approved and celebrated, in his time.
The author of the manuscript in the Bodleian library [Digby 90] ,
attributed to Thomas of Tewkesbury, says the same (o). Morley (£),
Ravenscroft (q), and Butler (r), are of this opinion; and Morley
tells us that he used red notes in his Motets to imply a change of
mode, time, and prolation. Vitriaco, however, makes no mention
of such in his tract on Counterpoint, and his Motets, if they could
now be found, such is the transient state of music, would be
utterly unintelligible; though Morley tells us, that " they were for
some time of all others best esteemed and most used in the
church (s).
There are Motets, Muteti, in two parts, four hundred years old,
inserted in the second volume of Gerbert's History of Church Music;
but of so coarse a texture, that if a specimen were given here it
would be of no other use than to raise the reader's wonder how such
music could ever be composed or performed, and still more, how
it should ever have been listened to with pleasure.
Franco speaks of Motets in three parts, Moteti — qui habent
triplum, &c. — The Pseudo-Bede, De Musica Mensurata, uses the
word Motellus in the same sense; and in defining the Grave, Mean,
and Acute parts of Music, says, ex his componuntur Mortelli, seu
Conducti, vel Organa.
Rondelli, Motelli and Conducti (t) were secular melodies, .distinct
from ecclesiastical chants. Franco, in the fifth chapter of his tract
(o) His seventh chapter has for title, De Figuris inveniis a Francone, et de Invention*
Minime, which last, he says, was added by Philip de Vitriaco of Auvergne, the flower of
musicians in the whole world.
(£) Annotations to the first part of his Introduction.
(«) P. 3. (r) P. 27.
(s) Motet is derived from the French word Mot, and the Italian Motto: whence Bon-mot,
a joke, and Motto, a short inscription, have been naturalized in our tongue.
(t) The word Conductus is frequently found as a musical term in writers of the thirteenth
century. Odo, archbishop of Rheims, about 1250, hi his charge to the nuns of the monastery
of Villars, calls both the Conducti and Motuli, Motets, "Jocose and scurrilous songs." In festo
S. Joannis et Innocentium^ nimia jocositate et scurrilibus Cantibus utebantur utpote farsis,
Conductis, Motulis, fireecejtimus, quod konestius et cum majori devotione alias se haberent. Ex
Cod. Reg. Visitat. apud Gerbert.
The term Conduis, in old French, had the same acceptation, according to the following
passage, cited by the continuator of Du Cange :
De bien chanter estoit si dttis
Que chansonetes et Conduis
Chante si affaiteement, &c.
553
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
on Measured Music, after giving instructions for putting parts to a
plain-song, says, in conductis aliter est operandum, quia qui vult
facer e conductum, primb cantum invenire debet pulchriorem qu&m
potest, deinde uti debet illof ut de Tenore faciendo Discantum.
Here a tune or melody is to be invented as well as the harmony or
parts: and in the same tract, chap. vi. which is .deficient in the
Oxford copy, after speaking of different kinds of composition, he
says, et nota, quod in his omnibus idem est modus operandi, excepto
in Conductis quia in omnibus aliis primo accipitur Cantus aliquis
prius foetus, quia Tenor dicitur, eo quod Discantum tenet, et ab
ipso (f . discantus) ortum habet. In Conductis vero non sic, sed
fiunt ab eodem Cantus et Discantus, &c. " It is to be observed,
that in all these compositions the process is the same, except in the
Conductus, because in every other species of Discant some melody
already made is chosen, which is called the Tenor, and which
governs the Discant that originates from it. But it is different in
the Conductus, where the Cantus, or Melody, and the Discant, or
Harmony, are both to be produced/ * Perhaps this species of Air
had the name of Conductus from being the Subject, Theme, and
Guide, to which different parts were applied.
Durand (u] says, that, about the latter end of the thirteenth
century, Motets were censured as indecorous and prophane; and
Carpentier (x) gives a passage from the manuscript Constitutions
of the Carmelite friars (y), which ordains that " no Motets or
other songs that are more likely to excite lasciviousness than
devotion, should be sung, under severe penalties."
At present this title is given to all compositions set to Latin
words for the use of the Romish church, as Psalms, Hymns,
Anthems, Responses, &c. Musicians, however, of the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries, and even earlier, sometimes gave the
name of Motetus to the part which is now called Counter-Tenor.
It was afterwards synonimous with Motellus, a kind of tune or
melody, which, though continued in the church, was censured as
too light and scurrilous.
The earliest, and indeed the most pompous publication of
Motets which I have seen, are those of Lodovico Vittoria at Rome,
1585,* with the parts printed separate on the opposite pages, and
without bars (z). In 1659, a Collection of Motetti, by Carissimi
and others, was published at Venice; and our countryman, Orlando
Gibbons, in 1612, published Madrigals and Moteti, together.**
(») De Modo Gen. Condi Celebrandi.
(x) Suppl. in Gloss, ad Script. Jfed. et inf. Lot. V, Motetus.
(y) P. I. Rubr. 3.
Cf) Thoma Ludouici a Victoria Abulensis Motecta festorum totius Anni. cum Communi
Sanctorum, a 4, 5, 6, et 8, Voribus .
« ,!Jl0ttTiMI0 del pefrucci (1466-1539) was publishing at Venice collections of motets as early
as 1502. A copy of a set published in 1503 is in the B.M. (K. i d. 2).
** It must be remembered that originally the motet was not a composition for Church use,
S^- i vIPrK.- tae °i.tSe/'Pcd by0 Sfofcons in this set was by no means rarasual.
riono, m nis Dictionary published m 1598, explains motetto as "a dime, a verse a jigge a
short song, a wittie saying/' Grove's gives the date of Gibbon's ist set (in the list of works
at the^end ofthe article) as 1614, but gives the correct date 1612 in the body of the article.
5$4
THE FORMATION OF THE TIME-TABLE
But at the latter end of the last century, and the beginning of
this, the Motet was in the greatest favour as the most elegant and
polished species of Verse-Anthem that was used in the Romish
church; and the Motets of Giambatista Bassani [c 1657-1716]
were held in great estimation all over Europe, but particularly in
England, about the beginning of this century; where the thirteenth
Opera of divine Motetti by Bassani was printed, "for a single
voice with proper symphonies." I remember my father, a
cotemporary of Purcell and Blow, singing and speaking of them
with great delight.*
Though Philip de Vitriaco is mentioned by so many writers,
yet only one of them names his country. If, as has been said
in Tunsted's manuscript, he was of Auvergne, his talents, and the
period when he lived will correspond with the account that is
given of Philippes de Vitry, bishop of Meaux, in France, who
died 1361 : for this prelate is said, by John de Vinette, a writer
of the fourteenth century, to have been celebrated for his works in
French and in Latin, and for his abilities in Ecclesiastical Music.
And du Plessis, in his History of Meaux, speaks of him in the
following words: " Philip de Vitry, or de Vitteri, applied himself
to music and poetry with so much success, that, for the time in
which he lived, he may be ranked among the most excellent of
their votaries (a)/'
This account, however, does not very well ascertain his
invention of the Minim, which seems the expedient of some earlier
musician; for pope John XXII. in his decree given at Avignon,
1322 (&), in describing the abuse and corruption of sacred music,
and speaking of the new figurative kind of polyphonic compositions
with which it was infected, says, that those who were captivated
with it, " attending to the new notes and new measures of the
disciples of the new school, would rather have their ears tickled
with semibreves and minims, and such frivolous inventions, than
hear the ancient ecclesiastical chant." (c).**
Indeed, Vitriaco neither mentions the coloured notes, nor the
minim, in his tract on counterpoint; which last, though he may
not have invented, yet the frequent use of it in his motets, that
seem to have authorised and encouraged others to admit it into
their compositions.
Of what kind the compositions used in religious houses were,
four hundred years ago, that is about the year 1374, we may form
(a) Mem. de Lift. torn. xffi.
(5) See the preceding chapter, p. 504 and 511.
(c) Nova Scholar discipulos, dum temporibus mensurandis invigilant, novas notas intendunt,
jingere suas, quam antiquas cantare malunt, in Semibreves et Minimas Ecclesiastica Cantantur,
notulis percutiuntur. After this, he gives such a description of the wild modulations and
wanton divisions, which had deluged church music, particularly the Hoqueti, or Hiccups, as
would suit the present Bravura songs of an Agujari, or a Danzi.
* Sarmonia Festiva in two volumes, op. 8 and 13. Published by W. Pearson, London,
between 1699 and 1735-
**The invention of the Fti™'"* must be ascribed to Odington, who divided the semibreve
into three parts, giving the name minima to the short note.
De Muris, in his writings, does not seem to favour this division of the semibreve.
555
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
some judgment, perhaps, from tfie following specimen given by
the learned Gerbert, abbot of St. Blaise, in the first volume of his
History of Sacred Music, from a manuscript of his own abbey.
It consists of only two words — Benedicamus Domino — which was
called the Benediction, and enjoined to be sung by the religious
of some orders at the end of every hour, as a grace. Here we
have not only an example of such counterpoint, as was in use at
the time, but of the Neuma, or divisions, with which the good
monks were allowed to solace themselves on festivals; pro
festivitatum ratione.
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^ discant is too contemptible for criticism: there is in it
neither measure nor harmony: indeed, almost the only concords to
be found in it are 5ths and 8ths, and those generally in succession.
None of the rules of Franco, Vitriaco, or John de Muris, are
observed, to which the composer seems to have been an utter
stranger. Only three kinds of characters are used: the long, breve,
and semibreve ; and these are all full and black, as white, open
notes were not yet in use.
Franco's discant shews that there was much better harmony
known at a very early period after Guido, than had been practised
in the church under the title of Organizing.
556
THE FORMATION OF THE TIME-TABLE
New attempts at deviation, from the old diaphonics, were
long kept out of the church, if we may judge by the motets and
other written discants that have been preserved in convents and
ecclesiastical archives, produced in times when secular music^ was
much improved. The scanty rules given by de Muris, Vitriaco,
and others of the fourteenth century, had they been known or
followed, would have taught contrapuntists how to use concords,
at least less offensively than seems to have been done by the
ecclesiastics, who could think such discant as that we have been
mentioning, worthy of admission into the divine offices.
If the church had never suffered such wretched compositions as
these to enter its pale, who could have languished for them? or,
when better were invented, if she had been hasty to excommunicate
and anathematize these, who would have thought her power
abused? but that she ever should have allowed such jargon to
disgrace her temples, or pollute the sacred service, and should long
prohibit the use of better harmony, when better was found, must
make the profane doubt of the infallibility of those councils, by
whose decrees the one was received, and the other rejected.
But the cultivators of melody and counterpoint, in general, were
now feeling their way in utter darkness, as to the musical laws
which have been since established, and in favour of which habitude
has so much prejudiced our ears, that we wonder how any other
arrangement, or combination of sounds, could ever be tolerated than
that to which we are accustomed.
It is perhaps nearly the same with respect to the combination
of letters, in the structure of words, and arrangement of sentences;
and the euphony of language, though not in itself ideal and arbitrary,
is as temporary and local to the ears of those that are accustomed
to it, as the arrangement of sounds in melody, and their
combination in harmony. Whoever should now choose to converse
at St. James's in the language of Chaucer, which was that of the
court in his time, would not only be thought rude and savage, but
a lunatic. It is by small and imperceptible degrees that a new-
formed language or melody is polished ; we see and hear nothing
but what is within point-blank of our senses ; and, by
accommodating ourselves to the degree of perfection which
surrounds us, we imagine that but little more can be acquired by
posterity, than what we have attained.
There is, indeed, a period at which a language might be wished
to remain stationary, as fewer liberties are allowed in speech than
melody, which, a few tonal and fundamental laws excepted, is
abandoned to all the caprice and vagaries of imagination. But that
the immutable laws of harmony should be subject to the vicissitudes
of fashion, is wonderful : for it seems as if the concords which we
now call perfect, of unison, octave, 4th, and 5th, must always have
been concords, and that 3ds and 6ths, though nominally imperfect,
must ever have been grateful to creatures organized like ourselves;
but, on the contrary, it has appeared, in the course of this work, that
almost every concord, whose coincidence and perf ection are open to
557
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
mathematical demonstration, has had its period of favour. When
men became satiated with the monotony of unisons and octaves, the
fourth for many ages was the favourite interval and consonance
among the Greeks; and in the middle ages, during the infancy of
Counterpoint, sometimes it was most fashionable to organize by a
succession of 4ths, and sometimes of 5ths, to Diatessaronare and
Quintoier, as was in vogue by turns. Then 3ds were received among
auricular sweet-meats of the most piquant kind, which every
subsequent age has so much contributed to refine and perfect, that
there seems little probability that the inhabitants of Europe will soon
be cloyed with them. In Corelli's time a chain of 7ths, regularly
prepared and resolved, was thought necessary to combine Harmony,
and ornament almost every composition: 9ths, accompanied by
3ds, and 4ths by 5ths, abounded in every page of that period ;
whereas now the 9th is seldom seen without a 4th or 7th, and the
4th is constantly observed to prefer the 6th for its companion, to its
old crony the 5th: a new association top has, of late years, been
formed between the, •£ of which former times can give no example.
All which circumstances evidently prove that there is a mode and
fashion in Harmony, as well as Melody, which contribute to render
the favour of musical compositions so transient; and when we reflect
on the various powers of voices, instruments, and performers, on
which the perfect execution of every musical composition depends,
but little hope can remain to the artist that his productions, like
those of the poet, painter, or architect, can be blest with longevity !
Chapter TV
Of the Origin of Modern Languages, to which
written Melody and Harmony were first applied;
and general state of Music till the Invention of
Printing, about the year 1450
HAVING made some progress in the mechanism of Melody
and Harmony, by tracing as near its source as possible, the
first formation of the musical Alphabet, or Scale, whence
single sounds are drawn, and given very early specimens of their
Measure, and simultaneous use in Consonance; the reader will,
perhaps, not be sony to quit for a while such minute researches, in
order to enquire at what time, and in what manner, these tones were
first applied to modern languages, when the " — Bless' d pair of
Sirens — Voice, and Verse," attempted friendly union amidst -the
according murmurs of their new companion Harmony, who
increasing in power by a numerous offspring, soon grew so loud
and insolent, that she was able to overwhelm them both, and, by her
artful contrivances, to render them almost indifferent and useless to
each other, as well as to the public.
Every nation aspiring at high descent, will be ready to claim
priority in the formation and culture of their language, and antiquity
of their Songs ; and it would perhaps be as difficult to settle these
demands equitably, and to the satisfaction of all parties, as the
political claims of ambitious and contending powers, at a
general diet.
Perhaps the specimens of the Welch and Saxon Languages that
might be produced in favour of our own pretensions in this island,
are of such antiquity as no other country can equal ; for the poems
of Taliesin, Lyward H£n, Aneurin Gwawdrydd, Myrddin, Wyllt,
and Avan Veiddig, who all flourished about the year 560, are
preserved, though hardly intelligible to the most learned Cambro-
British Antiquary (a). And the Dialect of our Alfred, of the ninth
century, in his Saxon translation of Boethius and Bede, is more clear
and intelligible than the vulgar language, equally ancient, of any
other Country in Europe. For I am acquainted with no
other Language, which, like our own, can mount, in a regular and
intelligible Series, from the Dialect in present use to that of the
ninth Century : that is, from pure English to pure Saxon, such as was
(a) See Evans's Specimens of Welch Poetiy.
559
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
spoken and written by King Alfred, unmixed with Latin, Welch, or
Norman. And this may be done for a period of nine hundred years,
by means of the Chronicon Saxonicum of Bishop Gibson, the
excellent Anglo-Saxon Dictionary of the late Rev. Mr. Lye, and such
a chain of specimens of our tongue at different stages of its perfection
as Dr. Johnson has inserted in the History of our Language prefixed
to his Dictionary. Indeed we have the authority of Bede for
social and domestic singing to the Haip in the Saxon Language,
upon this island, at the beginning of the eighth century ; though he
himself wrote in Latin, the only language of the Church and the
learned then, and for many ages afterwards (6). But the question is
not what people had songs first in their own language : for wherever
there is a language, there is Poetry, and wherever there is
Poetry, there is Music, of some kind or other: the present
inquiry is, where such Music as that of which we have been tracing
the origin, was first applied to a Modern Language. For it is not
meant to speak here of those wild and irregular Melodies which come
within the description of National Music ; such as the old and rustic
tunes of Wales, Scotland, and Ireland ; which remained for many
ages traditional, and if not more ancient than the scale ascribed to
Guido, were certainly formed without its assistance, as we may judge
by the little attention that was paid to Keys, and the awkward
difficulties to which those are subject who attempt to clothe them
with harmony. Of this kind of artless Music which is best learned
in the nursery and the street, I shall speak with due. reverence
hereafter ; and at present confine my disquisitions and enquiries
to real Music, arising from a complete scale under the guidance
of such rules of art as successful cultivation has rendered respectable
and worthy of imitation (c).
Songs have at all times, and in all places, afforded amusement
and consolation to mankind: every passion of the human breast
has been vented in Song ; and the most savage as well as civilized
inhabitants of the earth have encouraged these effusions. The
natives of New Zealand, who seem to live as nearly in a state of
nature as any animals that are merely gregarious, have their Songs,
and their Improvisatori ; and the ancient Greeks, during every
period of their history and refinement, had their Scolia for almost
every circumstance and occasion incident to society (d).
Singing was so common among the ancient Romans as to become
proverbial. Phaedria, in the Phoromi of Terence, begs Dorio to
hear him, he has but one word to offer: when Dorio tells him he is
(&) Dr. Percy, in his Essay on the Ancient English Minstrels, (note G) has given so
ample and satisfactory an account of the Saxon manner of singing to the Harp in Beck's time,
as to leave his reader nothing to wish, or me to add, on the subject.
(c) It is the fanciful opinion of some naturalist that the blackbird, the thrash, the robin,
or the. bull-finch, that so often repeats his peculiar melody during summer, is but performing
the part of a singing master to the young birds of his own species : the nurse, the ballad-
singer in the street, and the parish clerk, exercise the same function in our towns and villages :
and the traditional tones of every country seem as natural to the common people as warbling
is to birds, in & state of nature.
(d) See vol. i. 359 et seq.
560
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
always ^ singing the same song (e). Horace speaks of the same
affectation among the singers of his time as prevails with the present ;
never to sing when they are entreated, or to desist if no one wishes
to hear them (/). And some idea of the cultivated state of Music
in Gaul, so early as the fifth century, may be acquired from a passage
in one of the epistles of Sidonius Apollinaris, who in his character of
king Theodoric, the Goth, says that "This prince was more
delighted with the sweet and soothing sounds of a single instrument,
which calmed his mind, and flattered his ear by its softness, than
with Hydraulic Organs, or the noise and clangor of many voices and
instruments in concert (g)."
Clothaire II. in the seventh century, having gained a great
victory over the Saxons, it was celebrated by a Latin song in rhyme,
which the annalists tell us was sung with great vociferation all over
the kingdom.
In the time of Charlemagne, Histriones, Mimes, and Actors of
farces, were very numerous in France : and, according to the Abb6
Vertot (h), this prince made a collection of ancient Gallic songs ; and
Eginhard, his historian, observes that these songs, which were chiefly
military, like those of the Germans, constituted the principal part
of the History of France, and comprised the most heroic actions
of her kings.
As the origin of Songs and the formation of the Language of
every country are so nearly coeval, I hope the reader will allow me to
bestow a few pages upon a subject, which though it be thought not
absolutely necessary for a musical historian to trace, yet it lies so
near his path that he can hardly proceed on his way without its being
often impressed upon his mind, fortuitously.
I shall not however enter upon the merits of a question which has
been much agitated of late in France: "Whether the present
language of that country was first cultivated in the northern or
southern provinces? " The origin of all inventions, after having
been suffered by ignorance and idleness to sleep for many ages, is
so difficult to ascertain, that if the inhabitants of the kingdoms which
gave them birth, where information is most likely to be furnished, are
unable to bring them to light, it would be arrogance in a foreigner
to attempt it (i). The French critics and antiquaries all agree that
the capital was the last place to cultivate the vulgar tongue, and to
receive the first essays of those who made it the vehicle of their
thoughts. FonteneUe says the first sparks of poetry appeared chiefly
at the two extremities of the kingdom, in Provence and Picardy.
(e) Cantilenam eandam cants, act. iii. sc. ii. The French use the verb chanter in the
same sense: chanson \ bagatellel— Qu'est-ce qu'il cnantel
(/) Omnibus hoc vitium est cantoribus, &c. Sat ill lib. I.
(g) niic nee organa hydraulica sonant, nee sub Phonasco vocalium concentus medietatum
acroama simul intonat: nuttus ibi Lyristes Choraules canit. rege solunt fUis fidibus delenito,
quibus non minus mulcet virtis animum, quam cantus auditum. Epist ii. lib. I.
(h) Mem. de Litt.
(t) For, says the admirable antiquary Fauchet, Qui scroit cestuy-la tant hardi de settlement
promettre pouvoir tirer la verite d'un si profond abysme, que celui ou I'ignorance & nonckalcnce
de sept ou huit cens ans Va precipitee? De la»Langue et Poesie Francoise, liv. i
VOI,. i. 36. 5&
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
" The Provengaux," says he, " warmed by a more genial sun,
ought to have had the superiority ; but the inhabitants of Picardy
are their inferiors in nothing (&)." M. de la Ravaliere gives the
honour of priority to the writers of Normandy ; and Fauchet and
Pasquier, separating the French poetry from the Proven9al,
challenge the admirers of the Troubadours to produce verses of their
writing of equal antiquity with the specimens of French poetry which
they have exhibited. However, the Provencal bards have lately
had many able champions among whom M. de Lacurne de Sainte
Palaye, and his faithful 'squire, M. Millot, have distinguished
themselves. And though it cannot be denied but that the fragments
of songs subsist in the French language of higher antiquity than in
the dialect of Provence, yet, as I have been able to find no melodies
that have been set to a modern language more ancient than those
which are preserved in the Vatican library to the songs of the
Troubadours, I shall begin my enquiries concerning the origin of
vulgar dialects in Europe, by endeavouring to trace the first
formation of the language of PROVENCE.
Every refined and polished nation has a vulgar language in its
remote provinces, and even in its capital, among the common
people, in which there are innumerable woi;ds and phrases that have
never been admitted into books. This must doubtless have been
the case with the Romans; and it is the opinion of some persons of
great eminence in literature, among whom may be numbered the
learned Cardinal Bembo, and the Marquis Maffei, that the ancient
Romans had at all times an oral vulgar language which was different
from that of books; and that this colloquial language, less gram-
matical and elegant than that of the learned, was carried by the
Romans into all the provinces under their dominion. It is therefore
probable that this, and not the written language of Italy, was the
mother of the Provengal, Sicilian, Italian, and Spanish dialects.
But supposing such a language as Cicero's was ever spoken, it
could not be laid aside for another, all at once; and when we are
told of a particular period or century, during which the Latin
tongue ceased to be spoken in France or Italy, and the Provengal,
French, or Italian begun; credulity itself is staggered and unable
to reconcile it to probability. Every language is long spoken before
it is written; and though the first poet of Italy or Provence, who
committed his verses to writing in the vulgar tongue could be
named, no one would venture to tell us by whom it was first spoken.
The learned Maffei (Q is of opinion that there was a vulgar
Language in Italy long before the irruptions of the Lombards,
Goths, or Franks; and has traced its use as early as the time of
Quintilian, who tells us, that he had often heard the crowd in the
Circus applaud, or demand something of the champions, in a
barbarous language (m): that is, in a vulgar and Plebean dialect,
different from pure Latin. Sammonicus, who lived in Hie time of
(K) Hist dn Theatre Francois. (J) Verona illustrata, Kb. ii. p. 601.
(m) Exclamasse barbore, lib. i. cap. 12.
562
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
Septimius Severus, names the vulgar Language. And both Pliny
and St. Jerom speak of the military Language as of that kind : the
latter even tells us (n), that Fortunatianus, bishop of Aquileia, wrote
a Commentary on the Evangelists in this vulgar Language, Rustico
Sermone, during the time of Constantine. But this was a singular
instance, which was not imitated.
It appears however, from the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great,
written 593, that there was then a Language merely colloquial at
Rome. For he tells us that a new convert, of whom he is speaking,
was sent to a convent with two vessels of wine, which the vulgar
call flasks (0).
And Gregory of Tours, so early as 572, complains of this vulgar
or rustic tongue gaining ground in France, and being more in favour
than Latin, the language of the learned (£).
It was therefore by degrees that Latin ceased to be understood
by the common people, and the Romance Language had admission
into books. And in 813 it was ordered by a canon at the council
of Tours, that the Bishops should be employed in translating
homilies into the Roman Rustic Tongue, that they might be the
more easily understood by the common people (q). The same*
canon we are told was renewed in a council at Aries in 851 (r).
In the ninth century historians tell us that Charlemagne and
his sons and successors spoke the Romance Language, specimens of
which may be seen in Fauchet, Pasquier, and several other writers
on the French language. And in the twelfth century it began to
be the general Language of poets and polite writers. Some of the
sermons written and preached by St. Bernard, about 1137, in this
language, are still preserved among the MSS. of the Convent of
Feuellans, in the Rue St. Honor6 at Paris.
In the times of the emperors the Romans instituted schools and
academies in the principal cities of Gaul for teaching the Latin
Language. A rescript of Gratian still subsists for the election and
appointments of professors in these seminaries ($).
In the latter end of the fourth century, by these means, and
the offices of dignity and profit conferred on those who were masters
of this language, it became general among persons of education,
and consequently would be imitated, though in an aukward and
incorrect manner, by those of a lower class. Strabo tells us that in
the time of Augustus the Spaniards and Portuguese had forgotten
their own language, and used only that of the Romans.
The great corruption of the Latin tongue about the end of the
seventh century is manifest in the collection of the formules of the
(») Ser. fll. cap. 97-
(0) Vino plena duo vascula, qua vulgo flascones vocantur deferret. Lib. ii. cap. 18.
(£) Philosophantem rhetorem intelligunt pauci, loquentem rusticum mitlti.
(q) Easdem komilias quisque Ej>iscof>us aperte transferre studeat in Romanam rasticant
Unguam out Theotiscam, quo farilius cuncti jossint intelligere qua dicunUtr.
(r) Dissert, sur l,0rigine de la Langue Trencoi&e, par. M. Barbazan, 1759.
fe) Cod. Theodos Leg. XI.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Monk Marculf, still preserved, as well as public acts, charters,
testaments, and diplomas. In these records it appears that the
dialects of the neighbouring people had begun to disfigure the Latin
nouns, by certain contractions of syllables and frequent repetitions
of pronouns. Indeed the repetitions of the pronoun ipse were
innumerable; on account of the articles le and la having been long
before this period introduced into the vulgar tongue. An evident
proof of the introduction of the article ille or ilia contracted and
disguised is found in the litanies written about the year 780, in the
diocese of Soissons.
In these the prayers for Pope Adrian the first, for Charlemagne,
his wife, and children, are terminated by tu lo juva, instead of the
usual formule, tu ilium juva. Even so early as the sixth century,
according to Gregory de Tours (*), the rules of grammar, with
respect to cases and genders, were disregarded, and proper names
frequently deprived of their Latin terminations : as Theodoric for
Theodoricus, &c. (u).
This common or vulgar Language is frequently mentioned under
the title of Sermo Rusticanus, Lingua Romana, because of its
derivation from the language of the Romans, which was Latin;
Lingua Laica, Lingua Gallicana, is frequently mentioned in ancient
Latin MSS. before it seems to have been written; and some of the
most ancient fragments of this language now subsisting are verses
in rhyme.
The colloquial Language used only in familiar conversation was
called by the Romans Sermo usualis, quotidianus, pedestris,
vulgaris, militaris, rusticus, &c. It is supposed by M. Bonamy (x)
as well as by others, that from this vulgar Latin not only the
French language and its different dialects, but the Spanish and
Italian are derived. Indeed it is most probable that the Latin
tongue, in its period of greatest purity, was only the language of
the Learned, in the Roman provinces remote from the capital; and
that it was never so generally cultivated in other times as to exclude
the vulgar dialect.
In the frequent revolutions and struggles for empire during these
ages, the Roman language must have been debased and corrupted,
while new tongues were forming, which though not sufficiently
fixed and grammatical to be used in books, were doubtless long
the vulgar and colloquial dialects before the Latin ceased to be
the common language of the learned.
It was about this time that the Art of Rhyming, or unisonous
terminations of verses, stole into poetical composition, in a manner
which the learned and judicious author of an Essay on the
Language and Versification of Chaucer, seems to have traced to
its source (y). Leonine Verses, supposed to have been so called
from a Pope or Monk Leo, their author, in the seventh century, are
(t) Prolog Libri de Glor. Conf.
(«) Reckerckes sur les plus Anriennes Tradtictions, par L'Abbe Lebeuf, Mem. de Litt.
(x) Mem. deLit.
(y) See the Canterbury Tales of Chaucer, vol. iv. p. 52, 1775.
564
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
by some thought the first attempt at rhyme (*); while others imagine
the hymn to St. John fhe Baptist, by Paul Diaconus, written about
the latter end of the eighth century, to be not only rendered
memorable by Guide's scale, but by having been the model of all
other Monkish Rhymes in Latin, as well as in modern languages.
Ut queant laxis, &c. (a).
But neither of these genealogies satisfies all enquirers. Gravina
(6) thinks it absurd to ascribe the invention of rhyme to any one
writer, as to attribute to an individual the propagation of the plague,
which is caused by the universal contagion of the air.
The Arabs had rhyme, according to Don Calmet (c), before the
time of Mahomet, who died 632, and in the second century used a
kind of poetry in measures similar to the Greek, and set to music (d) .
The ancients in thedr verse required only measure and quantity,
without tuning the terminations ; the moderns admit a greater
variety of arrangement, but require an equal number of syllables,
and, except in blank verse, similar sounds at the end of
correspondent lines.
There are hymns in the Romish church, which are called Prosce,
Proses, a title given to compositions in rhyme, in which the laws of
measure and quantity established by the ancient Greeks and
Romans are neglected. These being sung after the Gradual or
(*) Leonine verses are those of which the middle rhymes with the end.
(a) See p. 467. It seems as if the rhymes in the first stanza of this hymn had been
accidental, as they do not occur in the rest of it. But the diligent editor of Chaucer's Canterbury
Tales observes, " That evident marks of a fondness for rhyme appear in the hymns of St
Ambrose and S. Damasus, as early as the fourth century." Few, however, of these compositions
were regularly rhymed throughout; and yet from these beginnings it is natural to conclude with
the author just quoted, that "From such Latin Rhythms, and chiefly those of the iambic form,
the present poetical measures of all the nations of the Romans in Europe are clearly derived."
Ub\ supra.
(b) Ragion Poetic a.
(c) Tresor de 1'Antiquite, p. 44.
(d) If this were proved, it would fortify Mr. Wharton's ingenious idea (Dissert, prefixed
to History of Poetry, vol. i.) that modern poetry and romance were brought into Europe from
Arabia at the time of the Crusades. Chivalry had the same origin; and if the wild adventures
of knights errant, with which the first romances were filled are oriental, the rhymes in which
they are clad may be derived from the same source. As Arthur and Charlemagne are the
first and original heroes of romance in Europe, their histories, real or fabulous, are connected
with the Saracens, the primitive Mahometans, who had extended their conquest from the East
to the western world.
Dr. Percy's clear deduction of chivalry and romances in a lineal descent from the ancient
historical songs of the Gothic Bards and Scalds, though it assign them a much higher antiquity
than the time of the Crusades, does not destroy Mr. Warton's hypothesis, which supposes them
of eastern origin; on the contrary, as the northern nations deduce their ancestry from Oden or
Woden and his followers, who were Asiatics that fled into Scandinavia from the Roman
armies soon after the defeat of Mithridates by Pompey, the reasoning of this excellent critic
might easily be reconciled to a supposition, that as a foundation was laid so early in Europe
for chivalry and romance by oriental Goths, the system was the more easily completed and
established by additional materials brought into Europe during tike Holy War. At least the
.
poetry and gallantry of the times were greatly enlivened and embellished by the fictions
imported from Arabia and Spain.
If this were a place to speak of the effects of oriental and northern fables , and poetry, I
should confess, with respect to my own feelings, that there is something in the metaphors of
Scaldic and northern bards that is chilling and oppressive. The countries they describe are so
bleak and dreary that the imagination is frozen, and the mind always filled ^with painful
sensations while perusing them, whereas the magnificence and splendour of Arabian and other
eastern fictions, warm and exhilarate, as the sun while it injures and scorches some part of
nature fructifies and cherishes others. The glowy tints and spicy gales with which that country
is supposed to abound never "f^il to furnish ideal beauties of climate, and luxuriance of
imagery, with which the mind is deluded and inflamed, even while some sad and sorrowful tale
is reciting.
If Homer, Virgil, and Milton, had kid the scenes of their poems in Iceland and Norway,
instead of Greece, Italy, and Paradise, it is hardly possible to imagine that their nanres ever
would have been so dear to the most enlightened part of mankind.
565
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Introitus, were likewise called Sequentia, and of this kind is the
Stabat Mater. The use of Prosing began at the latter end of the
ninth century. Notker, Monk of St. Gael in Switzerland, who wrote
about the year 880, and who is regarded by some as the first author
of Proses, says in the preface to the book where he mentions them,
that he had seen hymns of this kind in the Abbey of Jumieges, which
was burned by the Normans in 841. It seems now a contradiction
to call a hymn in rhyme, prose; but before the number of syllables
and their regular chime and coincidence at the end of lines was
settled, rhyming was not honoured with the name of poetry or verse.
Indeed mere rhymes and metres in modern languages are still
insufficient, without other requisites, to exalt an author into a Poet.
While the New Languages were unsettled and but partially
known, even in the single kingdom or province where they were
forming, it was not uncommon to write half a poem in Latin, and
half in a vulgar tongue (e). Indeed Dante (/) has left a poem in three
languages, Latin, Provencal, and Italian ; and Rambaud de
Vachieras, a Provengal poet, in five (g).
Petrarca and Muratori think that the Sicilians first composed and
wrote songs in a vulgar language; that from them the custom went
into Provence ; and from Provence into- Italy (h). Indeed Sicily
and Provence were long under the dominion of the same princes,
and the same language may have been cultivated at the courts of
both countries ; but as no vestiges remain of Sicilian poetry
resembling the Provengal, the opinions of these authors, however
eminent, and, on other accounts, respectable, while unsupported by
reasons and facts, can have but little weight.
Cardinal Bembo (i), however, was of opinion that the first
Rhymers and poets who wrote in a modern language were of
Provence ; after them the Tuscans, who had more assistance from
them in their poetry than from an^ other people. And both
Crescembeni (k) and Gravina (2) make the same concession.
Nostradamus, in his Lives of the Provengal Poets (m), says that
Provence was called the Mother of Troubadours and Minstrels; and
that Dante, Petrarca, Boccaccio, and other Tuscan poets enriched
both their language an.d fancy from the productions of his
countrymen (n). However, as no versi sciolti, or poetical lines
in
<fl Tom v. (g} Crescembeni Volg. Poes. p. 15.
(h) Petrarca, Trionjo d'Amore, capo iv. e Lett. Fam. & Muratori della Perfetta, Poesia
torn. i. p. 7.
(0 Prose, o sia deUa Lingua Volgare. (k) Comment, della Volg. Poes.
(Z) DeUa Ragion Poetica.
(m) Jean Nostradamus, brother of the astrologer of that name, was a native of Provence,
and flourished about 1560
. (*) 3 -shall give the title at foil length of Nostradamus's book, as it is become scarce. Let
vies des plus celebres et Anctens Poetes Provensaux, qui ont floury du temps des Comtes des
Provence. Recueilkes des Oeuvrcs de divers Autkeurs nommez en la page suivante, qui les ont
rentes, et redi&es premierement en Lan&te Provensale, et depws Mises en Langue Francoyse
par Jehan de Nostre DameProcureuren la Cour de Parlement de Provence, par lesquelles est
Monstree ranciennette de piasters nobles Matsons tant de Provence, Languedoc. France, que
d'ltabes, * d'atileuirs. A Lyons, pour Alexander Masiks. M.D. LXXV.
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
without rhymes are to be found in the Provengal poets, though they
abound among the Italians, it is natural to suppose that in these
measures of blank verse the Italians imitated their ancestors the
Romans, and that in rhyming the Provenjals were their models (o).
It was the opinion of Voltaire (p) that this language began to be
formed in the ninth century, out of Latin and Teutonic; that it was
the mother of French, Spanish, and Italian ; "continued in favour
till the reign of the emperor Frederic II and is still spoken in some
villages of the Orisons, and near Switzerland (#)."
Carpentier derives the word Troubadour from Troba, Provengal,
figmentum. Hinc Troubadours appellati Poetce Provinciales (r).
It was in the eleventh century, during the first Crusade,
according to the Abb6 Millot (s), that Europe began to emerge from
the barbarous stupidity and ignorance into which it had long been
plunged. And while its inhabitants were exercising every species
of rapine, plunder, and pious cruelty in Asia, art, ingenuity, and
reason insensibly civilized and softened their minds.
X^It was then that the Poets and Songsters known by the name
of ^Troubadours were multiplied, and their procession honoured
by the patronage and encouragement of the Count of Poitou, and
many other .powerful Princes and Barons, who had themselves
successfully cultivated Poetry and Music. At the courts of these
munificent patrons they were treated with the greatest consideration
and respect. The ladies, whose charms they celebrated, gave
them the most generous and flattering reception; and sometimes
disdained not even to listen with compassion to tales of tenderness,
and descriptions of the havoc which the irresistible charms of these
sublunary divinities of chivalry had made in their hearts. The
success of a few inspired the rest with hope, and excited exertions
in the exercise of their art, which impelled them towards perfection
with a rapidity that nothing but the united force of emulation and
^Slgljiment could occasion.
As these founders of modern versification, these new poetical
architects, constructed their poems upon plans of their own
invention; and as all classical authority was laid aside, either
through ignorance or design, each individual gave unlimited
indulgence to fancy in the subject, form, and species of his
(o) U 'Italia Liberata, by Trissino, was the first Italian poem of any length, in Versi
Sciolti.
(£) Essai sitr VHist. torn. i. p. 168,
* (a) Upon comparing the Provencal Language with that of the Grison Bible, in Lingua
Romanscba, first printed in 1673, and reprinted at Engadinabassa 1743, there appears to be a
great resemblance between them. The Provencal at present is composed of French, Spanish.
Gascosne, Tuscan, and Lombard words; and the Grison of French, Spanish, Italian, and
German. Many words, however, in this translation of the Bible have a German appearance,
merely from a Teutonic orthography. Fauchet telk us that as in former ages to speak
Romance was regarded as an accomplishment by all Europe, so fce Swiss of his own time seem
still to think it: for instead of saying I can speak French, a native of Switzerland would say
I can speak Romanse; Je scay bien parler Roman. Antiq. p. 541.
(r) The b in the old Provencal and Languedocian writers had the power of a consonant y,
as in the Spanish language, between which and the southern dialects of France, there is still in
many respects a great resemblance. Troubadour, doubtless, came from trovare, or trobare,
trouver, to invent; it answers to i irowjTqs, a Maker.
trouver, to invent; it answers to i
(s) Hist. Litt. de Fr. Tom. vi. p. 13 and Hist. de» Troubadours, Tom. L Disc. Prelim.
p. 15 et seq.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
composition. And it does not appear, during the cultivation and
favour of Provengal literature, that any one Troubadour so far
outstript his brethren in the approaches he made towards perfection
as to be considered as a model for his successors. We find, though
military prowess, hospitality, Gothic gallantry, and a rage for
feasts and revelry prevailed, that taste, refinement, and elegance
were never attained during this period, either in public or private
amusements. The want of originality of composition is frequently
lamented when licence is repressed by laws, and the wild effusions
of an ardent imagination are bounded by authority; but the
[productions that have been preserved of ithe Provengal Bards,
which may be called the offspring of writers in a state of nature,
seem to prove the necessity of rule, order, and example, even in
the liberal arts as well as the government of a free state. For the
progress of taste must ever be impeded by the ignorance and caprice
of those who cultivate an art without science or principles.
During near two centuries after Guido's arrangement of the
Scale and invention of the Time-table ascribed to Franco, no
remnants or records of Secular Music can be found except those
of the Troubadours, or Provengal poets.* And though in the
simple tunes which have been preserved of these Bards, no time
is marked and but little variety of notation appears, yet it is not
difficult to discover in them germs of the future melodies, as well
as poetry, of France and Italy. Unluckily the poetry and music
of the Troubadours of Provence were not for a long time called
into notice by writers possessed of those blandishments of style
or manner which fascinate, and render whatever subject they treat
interesting to the generality of readers. Fauchet, Pasquier, and
Nostradamus have written in a language that is now become so
uncouth and difficult that few have the courage to attempt acquiring
information or amusement from it; and Muratori and Crescembeni,
who are respected for their diligence and exactitude, are certainly
dry and dull narrators of facts which promise delight to every lover
of literature; nor do I remember, in consulting their voluminous
writings, ever to have found them guilty of hazarding a single
reflection or conjecture that has embellished the subject, or
rendered it amusing. But this censure must not be applied to
Sainte Palaye, Bonamy, la Ravaliere, and Barbazan, who in the
Memoire^ de Litterature, and elsewhere, have not only embellished,
but nearly exhausted the subject. Indeed the period of Provengal
poetry is interesting to literature, and the Melody to which it was
*It is certain, however, that as early as the loth century secular tunes were adapted for
Church use, and some prose tunes such as Orientibus Partibus are thought to be of secular
origin.
A MS. in the Bib. Nat., Paris, dated 1154, gives two songs:
) A Complainte written on the death of Charlemagne;
) A song supposed to have been written by a soldier who took part in the Battle of
f ontanet» in 841.
PM8 ^,Co^?m.aker |]*l F<a? "HI be found reproduced in Grove's (Vol. v. p. i).
B * °a^ U54) ** contain8 a lament "I the death f
AfeiHPM ,. uce n roves o. v. . i.
Rfc de FrfouHMo) B * °a^ U54) ** contain8 a lament "I the death of
in aMS. ttfJSa**** «**• on« » * MS- * Berne (36) and the other
568
THE STATE, OF MUSIC TO 1450
sung is a subject of curious enquiry to a Musical Historian; for it is
generally allowed that the Troubadours, by singing and writing in
a new tongue, occasioned a revolution not only in literature but
the human mind. And as almost every species of Italian poetry
is derived from the Provencals, so AIR, the most captivating part
of Secular vocal Melody, seems to have had the same origin. At
least the most ancient strains that have been spared by time, are
such as are set to the songs of the Troubadours.
The Provengal Language began to be in favour with poets
about the end of the tenth century (*). But in the twelfth century,
it was not only the general vehicle of Poetry, but of Prose, for
such as were ignorant of Latin; and these were not merely the
Laity: for at the council of Rheims 1119, the Bishop of Ostia,
having in a Latin oration declared to the Bishops and other
Ecclesiastics the business on which they were assembled, the Pope
made William de Champeaux, Bishop of Chalons, explain it in the
Romanse dialect. It was about this time that Provengal Poetry
arrived at its greatest point of perfection; and that it began to be
sung to the sound of instruments : for at this period Violars, or
performers on the Vielle and Viol; Juglars, or Flute-players;
Musars, or players on other instruments; and Comics, or Comedians,
abounded all over Europe. This swarm of Poet-Musicians, who
were formerly comprehended in France under the general title of
Jongleurs, travelled from province to province, singing their verses
at the courts of Kings, Princes, and other great personages, who
rewarded them with doathes, horses, arms, and money which
though sometimes given unwillingly served to augment the number
of these strolling Bards.
•*<- Jongleurs, or Musicians, were employed very early to sing the
works of those Troubadours who, for want of voice or knowledge
in Music, were unable to do it themselves. Jongleurs and
Men&riers, or Strollers and Minstrels, were common at all times;
but the Troubadours, or Bards, followed a profession, which
though very ancient, seems to have been laid aside in Greece and
Italy when literature became common, and was revived only during
the middle ages when it was again lost. Modern history during
this dark period has no other materials to work upon than the
fragments of these Bards, which though less respectable than those
of much higher antiquity, would, if neglected, involve the annals
of Europe in mere darkness, fable, and conjecture. A collection of
old Ballards, says Bayle, is not an unprofitable companion to an
Historian (u).
The pure Provengal Language was used in Dauphin6 and
Provence, then dependent on the empire; and in the three great
provinces of Toulouse,, Barcelona, and Poitou, with the duchy of
Acquitain, by the Bards of Chivalry and Romance, a title their
writings obtained from the Roman vulgar Language upon which
(*) See Hist. Litt de la Fr. torn. ix. p. 175, et seq.
((*) Oeuvres, lorn. i. p. 221, and 300. Now. de la Re*, des lettres, Feb. 1685, aft. U.
569
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
that of the Troubadours was formed. The most ancient poems
in this language that have been preserved, except a Satire by a
Troubadour against an Irish poet, about the year 1000 (%), were
written by William IX. Count of Poitou, born 1071. But this
dialect was spoken, and songs which have been lost were composed
in it, long before.
The Poetical History of our Richard the First, and his imprison-
ment in Germany on his return from Palestine, have lately been
often cited from Fauchet's Antiquities (y), and are too^ well
known to need enlargement here: however, as an introduction to
a Lay or Song of Complaint written by that heroic prince during
his confinement, I shall avail myself of an elegant translation of
the old Chronique whence Fauchet had his account, as it was
published in the Miscellanies of Mrs. A. Williams, 1766.
" Blondiaux was a poet of whom it is not told exactly when he
lived or died, otherwise than as he is found to have been known to
king Richard of England, who died in 1200. A good French
chronicle which is in my possession contains the following narrative.
" Richard having had in the Holy Wars a quarrel with the Duke
of Austria, was afraid at his return home to pass in his public
character through the Austrian dominions for fear of the Duke, or
through those of France for fear of king Philip Augustus, and
therefore travelled in disguise. But the Duke being informed of
his arrival, seized him and confined him in a castle, where he
remained prisoner, none knowing for a long time where he was.
" King Richard had retained in his service a Minstrel, or Bard,
whose name was Blondel. The Bard missing his master felt his
subsistence cut short, and the happiness of his life very much
impaired. He found the account well verified of the King's
departure from the Holy Land, but met with none who could tell him
with certainty whither he was gone, and therefore wandered over
many countries to try whether he could find him by any intelligence.
" It happened after a considerable time thus spent, that Blondel
came to a city near the castle in which king Richard his master was
confined, and asking his host to whom it belonged, was told that it
was one of the fortresses of the Duke of Austria. Blondel then
enquired whether there were any prisoners in it, which was a question
that he always took some indirect method of introducing ; and was
answered by his host, that there was one prisoner, who had been
there more than a year, but that he was not able to tell who he was.
" Blondel having received this information, made use of the
general reception which Minstrels find, to make acceptance in the
castle ; but though he was admitted, could never obtain a sight of
the prisoner, to know whether he was the king ; till one day he
placed himself over-against the window of the tower in which king
Richard was kept, and began to sing a French song which they had
formerly composed together. When the King heard the song, he
(*) Hw*. L&t. torn. t». £. 53.
(S) RecueU fa tOngine d* Langw et Po&b Ft attcoise, Ryme, et Romans, Paris. 1581.
570
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
knew that the singer was Blondel, and when half of it was sung, he
began the other half and completed it. Blondel then knowing the
residence and condition of the king his master, went ^back to
England, and related his adventure to the English Barons."
" This," continues Fauchet, " is all the account which my book
affords me of the life of Blondel (*)•"
The song written by Richard and Blondel, jointly, by which
the place of his confinement was thus discovered, is preserved in an
old French romance, called La Tour Tenebreuse, or the Black Tower
(a). This little poem is still in the ancient language of Provence,
whereas the other writings ascribed to Richard seem to have been
composed, or at least to have come down to the present times, in Old
French, or Langage Roman.
B. Domna vostra beutas
Elas bettas faisos
Els bels oils amoros
Els gens cors ben taillats
Don sieu empresenats
De vostra amor que mi lia.
R. Si bel trop affansia
Ja de vos non partrai
Que major honorai
Sol en votre deman
Oue sautra des beisan
To can de vos volria.
Imitated (b)
Blondel. Your beauty, lady fair,
None views without delight ;
But still so cold an air
No passion can excite:
Yet this I patient see,
While all are shunn'd like me,
Richard. No nymph my heart can wound,
If favour she divide,
And smile on all around,
Unwilling to decide:
I'd rather hatred bear,
Than love with others share.
The Lay, or Song of Complaint, which was written entirely by
our romantic monarch during his imprisonment, is inserted in the
original by Mr. Walpole, in his Catalogue of Royal and Noble
(z) The names Blondiaux and Blondel are thus confounded by this author.
(a} The Romance, so denominated, Tire* d'un ancienne Chronique composee par Richard,
suernomme Cceur de Lion, Roy d'Angleterre. was published at Pans, 1705.
(&) From a translation of this song into mote modern French, as inserted in La Tout
Tenebreuse.
571
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Authors (c), who seems unwilling to allow that Richard was an
author, and still more that he possessed any considerable degree
of poetical merit. The French critics, however, who are nothing
less than partial to Richard, and the Italians, are less severe on his
rhymes than our honourable countryman ; and the French version
of this song, in the history of the Troubadours (d), contains several
natural and affecting sentiments, which, if we may suppose them to
have been dressed in the most polished language of the time, though
now obscure, uncouth, and obsolete, are such as would not have
disgraced a professed bard of the twelfth century, much less an active
and warlike prince, who had so many pursuits and occupations of
higher importance on his hand (e).
As I have never seen an English translation of this early specimen
of Romanse poetry, except of one stanza, which Rymer has given
in his Short View of Tragedy, I shall endeavour to transfuse into our
present dialect the ideas which this composition seems to contain,
according to the copy of it which was printed in the preface to the
de la Tour Tenebreuse, already mentioned.
Song by Richard the First, Cceur de Lion, written during his
imprisonment in the Tour Tenebreuse, or Black Tower (/).
No wretched captive of his prison speaks,
Unless with pain, and bitterness of soul ;
Yet consolation from the Muse he seeks,
Whose voice alone misfortune can controuL
Where now is each ally, each baron, friend,
Whose face I ne'er beheld without a smile,
Will none, his sovereign to redeem, expend
The smallest portion of his treasures vile?
(c) VoLL
(d) Hist. Lift* des Troubadours, torn. i. p. 58.
• .4 «diter of the late edit, of Chaucer's Cant. Tales, vol. iv. p. 62 has
vindicated the character of Richard from an aspersion which was first catf upon hu£ by Ryme?
in consequence of a mistaken construction of a passage in Hoveden. *ymer.
(/) Ja nus hon fins dim razon
MnT *2*£t 5? fft ^°W dokns non;
Ka perm conort pot U fare canson.
Prou at d'amts, mas poure son li don.
0ntaSo m? ior T reenzon
bo fatt dos yver pns.
Or sachon ben mi horn e mi baron
Engles, Norman, Pettaven et Guascon.
Qe ge n'avote st fiovre compagnon
Oeu latssasst por aver en preiso*
Non meravil s'eu ai lo cor dolent
& "t?**™ met ma terra en torment
No h membra de nostre sagrament
Qe nos
Car sachon ben perver certanament
'hommortny PW n't amye ne parent
Non serai ge sotts p^
Mi combasnon cui i'amm * /•««
d dffiSS* %d'e flavin
Di lor ckanzon qil nonsontlas
Unca vers els non ai cor°ah ZFvtin
S* V Suerroent il feron qe vilain
Tan com ge sole pris.\
Or sachent ben Enjevin e Torain
E il BachaUers qi son kgiere fain
certain
> . ' t
, may Perz m es por ma gent 11 ma jnvassen mas il no ve un
S^"*11*™*' D* totes armes sont era SoitK
ns. per Zo qe ge soi pri$.$
* ** Tour T***b™<. ^t are given
*0f this stanza no notice is taken by the Abte Millot, in his version of Richard's song.
57*
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
Though none may blush that near two tedious years,
Without relief, my bondage has endur'd,
Yet know my English, Norman, Gascon peers,
Not one of you should thus remain immur'd:
The meanest subject of my wide .domains,
Had I been free, a ransom should have found;
I mean not to reproach you with my chains,
Yet still I wear them on a foreign ground!
Too true it is, so selfish human race !
" Nor dead, nor captives, friend or kindred find/'
Since here I pine in bondage and disgrace,
For lack of gold, my fetters to unbind,
Much for myself I feel, yet ah! still more
That no compassion from my subjects flows;
What can from infamy their names restore,
If, while a pris'ner, death my eyes should lose.
But small is my surprize, though great my grief,
To find, in spite of all his solemn vows,
My lands are ravag'd by the Gallic chief,
While none my cause has courage to espouse.
Though lofty tow'rs obscure the chearful day,
Yet, through the Dungeon's melancholy gloom,
Kind Hope, in gentle whispers, seems to say,
" Perpetual thraldom is not yet thy doom."
Ye dear companions of my happy days,
Oh Chail and Pensavin, aloud declare,
Throughout the earth in everlasting lays,
My foes against me wage inglorious war.
Oh tell them too, that ne'er among my crimes
Did breach of faith, deceit, or fraud appear;
That infamy will brand to latest times
The insults I receive while captive here.
Know all ye men of Anjou and Touraine,
And ev'ry bach'lor knight, robust and brave,
That duty now and love alike are vain,
From bonds your sovereign and your friend to save.
Remote from consolation here I lie,
The wretched captive of a pow'rful foe,
Who all your zeal and ardour can defy,
Nor leaves you ought but pity to bestow.
As there was no situation so serious or deplorable in these -heroic
times of modern history, but that it was thought necessary to do
homage to love, this song was addressed in the envoi from the Black
Tower to a countess Soir [Suer], with equal devotion and gallantry.
Gaucelm, or Anselm Faidit, a Troubadour, who had been much
esteemed and patronised by our Richard when he was Count of
Poitou, and resided at the court of Provence during the life of his
father Henry II. and who. accompanied him to Palestine, in the
573
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Holy Wax, has left a poem on the death of his benefactor, which
I found in the Vatican, among the MSS. bequeathed to that library
by the queen of Sweden, No. 1659, with the original music, by the
bard himself, who was as much admired by his cptemporaries for
setting his poems to Music, as writing them: having been said in
the old language of Provence, to have composed de bons mots, (§•
de bons sons, good words, and good tunes. He seduced from a
convent at Aix, and married, a beautiful nun, with whom he
travelled on foot from one court to another, many years. This
lady, besides her personal charms and accomplishments, had a
remarkably fine voice, and was much admired for singing her
husband's songs.
The melody to the verses on the death of Richard is the most
ancient which I have been able to find to Provengal words, and as
the original may be difficult to some of my readers in its antique
guise, I hope the rest will excuse my attempting a translation of
it (o). *
Nostradamus, in his life of this poet, tells us that he had long
been unfortunate before he lost his royal patron Richard, which
event completing his misery, he signalized his sorrow and affection
jn the following stanzas, of which I shall first give a facsimile of the
music in the same state as I found it in the Vatican, and afterwards
the same melody, with a base, in modern notes, to which the
translation is adjusted.
FOSTCHAUSA ES QE TOT LO MAJOR DAN EL MAIOR DUL, LAS; QEU ONC
AMIS A . CUES. ET ZO DON DB TOZ IORS PLAINOER PLO - RAN MA - VEN A DIR
EN . CHANTAR ET RETRA1RE, ET CE1; Q ERA Dfc VALUE CH0 ET. PA1RE
U RBSVALENZ Rl - ZARD, REIS DES ENGLES. ESMORZ; Al DEUSl CALS'PERTE ET
CALS DANZ
CAN ESTRA1NGMOZ ET QANCREU PER .AU - DIR I BEN A DU? COR
TOZ HOM O PO SO FR1R
BEN
DUR COR TOZ HOM a PO SOFRIR
(o) No more than two stanzas are contained in the Vatican MS. and in these the words are
so disfigured by bad orthography, and the verses so dislocated by careless arrangement, that I
was obliged to have recourse to a much more correct copy of the same two stanzas, inserted in
the Glossary to the late edition of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, vol. v. p. 27^0^ FOT tte reS
of the stanzas, I have been allowed, in the most liberal and obliging manner, to transcribe them
at my leisure from the beautiful and valuable MS. of Provencal songs in the possession of the
Rev. Mr. Crofts. In this collection of the lyric compositions of the TroubaSo^aSniraWy
wntten on vellum, there are jio less than ten poems in different measures by Anselm Faydit.
The tendwnfeng of this MS. is uncommonly dear, and as correct as can be expected from the
unsettled orthography of the tunes; but in this particular the scribe has been so capricious as to
spell the name of our author three several ways in one page. For tho' in the title to each song
he is .called Gonselm Faidiz, de Lemosi; yet in the coun£ of the second of his pieces te namt
is wntten Gaucem, and Gaulelm Faidit. (p) Ex Bibl Vat. No. 1659. Fol. S^CoL *
* An earlier melody than this is the sole surviving one by Guillaume d'Acquitaine (d. 1127)
to the; *ords Pew de chanter m^ jres talent. Richlrd I d£d in i^! Acqmiaine ^ II27J
The ntejody ® given by A. Jeanroy ia L« Chansons de GmJIainnftix. (C.E.M.A. No. o),
574
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
Now fate has
Ml'd the
woes. and
rent my
heart with
be fore /„
*ja-r' -r a
^^
^
future blessflgs
Tnese (
the
3^
l Richard.
England's mighty ,
and chief 6?
ll that's good and
briv,
5S
3=^
lagl A
of tvr«nt
rr. ft
53
TempT to
F P
the
I from
m
landcon
T5T
the world from
\ /{ ft. 1 —
&=
; ^_
j and con tempt to^1"*
^ r r ^ F=
; . :
pv —
»
:
On the death of Richard the First, by Gaucelm Faidit.
Translated from the Proven§al.
Now Fate has filled the measure of my woes,
And rent my heart with grief unfelt before;
No future blessings wounds like these can dose,
Or mitigate the loss I now deplore.
The valiant Richard, England's mighty king,
The sire and chief of all that's good and brave,
Of tyrant Death has felt the fatal sting:
A thousand years his equal could not bring
The world from meanness and contempt to save (q) .
(q} For chausa es et tot lo maior dan
El motor dol, las I q eu one mais agues,
Et 20, don del toz tors plaigner ploran,
M oven a dir en chantar et retraire,
De eel q era de vatorz caps et poire
Li Reis valenz Rizard, Reis des Engles,
Es morz; ai Deusl cals perda et cols danzeti
Can estraing moz et qan greu per attdirl
Ben a dur cor toz horn qi po so/nr.
Morz es li Reisf et son Passat mil an
Qanc tan pros kom no fo ne nol vit resf
Ne 10 mats horn non er del son senblant
Tan lares, tan prost tan ardizf tats donate;
Q Altxandre lo rets, qe venqi Daire
No out qe tan dones ni tan messes,
Nt one Karks ni Artus tan valgites,
Qa tot le mon sen fez, qin vol ver dirf
Als us deptar et als aUres grazir.
575
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Not Alexander's self, whose slaughtering sword
Each warlike nation of the earth subdu'd,
No Charlemagne, nor Arthur, Britain's lord,
Could boast such prowess, worth, and fortitude.
In this corrupt, this base, perfidious age,
In truth and wisdom he had no compeer;
Of half the actors on the world's great stage,
His splendid virtues could the hearts engage,
The rest his strength and valour taught to fear.
The friend of Virtue and of Honour's gone !
For though to all her trumpets Fame give breath,
Yet vain are great and glorious deeds, for none
Can shield the hero from the dart of Death !
Since such the wretched state of human race,
Why should we fear to mingle with the dead?
For me I ask of God no other grace,
Than instant to arrive at that blest place
Where Richard's great and tow' ring soul is fled.
O potent Prince ! who now in feats of arms,
In tournaments, or splendid courts shall shine?
Or who to modest worth display the charms
Of true munificence, with hand benign?
Ah! where will Genius now a Patron find?
Thy fond dependants an asylum, where?
No fost'ring father Fate has left behind,
But all, abandon' d by the world unkind,
Fly to the arms of Death, or wild Despair !
Meravettt me del fals Segle truan
Qoi pot istar savis horn ni cartes.
Pos re nottte val bel dons ni jaick prezanf
Et done per qe sefforzon paoc ni gaire?
Qa eras a mostrat morz qe pot faire
Qa un sol colp a lo meill del mon presf
Totas lonors, toz los gavz, toz los bes?
O metis vedem qe res not pot grandir,
Ben devriom menz doptar a morir?
Ai Seigner, rets valenz, & qes faran
Oimais armas* ni fort tornei espesf
Ne ricas corz, ni bel don alt et gran;
Pos vos notes qen eraz caps del flire?
Ne qes far an K Kvrat a mat iraire
Ctl qe eron en vostre servir mes,
Qatendton qel guierdon vengues?
Ni qes faran eels qes degran avir,
Qavtaz faich en gran ricor venir?
Longa tra et dual vida avran,
Et toz temps dol qar aissi lor es pres;
Et Sarractn, Twc, Paian, et Persan.
Qeos doptayon mats come not de Maire.
Cretsseran tan dorgotll tot lor afaire.
Qe plus greu ner lo sepolcre conges.
Qar Deuslo vol. car sil no lo volgues
Et vos setgner vesqisses ses mentir
De Sona los navengra fozir.
O mats non at esperanza qell an
Rets nt pnnces qi cobrar la saubes.
Et eel Setgner quel vostre leu teran
Devon gardar co fos de Prez amaire;
Nt tal faron vostri dui valen fraire,
Lt tousner rets, el cortez cons Zoufres.
Et qut en he remanra de vos tres,
Ben deu aver ferm cor et fin consir
De toz bans tups et si meteis iausir.
Envoy
Bel Setgner rets, eel Deus qes perdonaire,
Verats horn, verats vidat verais merces,
Vos faza tal Perdon com ops vos es;
Dt qel tort avos Perdon eTfaUr.
Et membre U com lo soviet servir.
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
Now Pagans, Turks, and Saracens ekte, -
Who thought thee more than man of woman born,
Exulting in thy sad, untimely fete,
Will treat the Christian name with pride and scorn.
The holy sepulchre each day will be
A harder conquest to the faithful brave
But such is God's inscrutable decree!
For Syria, had it been his will to free,
He still had kept his champion from the grave (r) \
But where will prince or potentate be found
The sacred tomb, like three, to gain and save,
Or like thy brothers, Henry, early crown'd,
And courteous Geoffry, lov'd by all the brave!
No chief like these remains of human race,
Who day by day to certain conquest leads;
Their steps no future hero e'er will trace,
And he who now presumes to daim their place,
Must earn an,d keep it by transcendant deeds.
Oh ! most rever'd of all the sons of Fame !
For ev'ry crime may God thy pardon seal!
Remembring thou wert foremost to proclaim,
Throughout the earth, the glory of his name,
And cause to assert with unremitting zeal.
Nostradamus says, that the Provengal language and poetry
arrived at their greatest degree of splendour about 1162, and
continued in favour till 1382. So that the period of their perfection
was about two hundred and fifty years. Though this language is
called Provengal, it is certain, says the authors of I'Histoire
Litteraire de la France, that it was the more cultivated in
Languedoc, Dauphiny, and in Acquitain, than in the province that
has given it a name: for in two great collections of the lives of
these poets among the ancient MSS. in the Royal Library at Paris,
out of an hundred and ten, not above eight or nine are Provengaux.
Not only our Richard the First, but the famous bishop of
Lincoln, Grosseteste, Alexander the monk of Ely, St. ^Eldred, and
several other English prelates and ecclesiastics distinguished^
themselves by their compositions in this language.
The southern provinces of France becoming, either by conquest
or inheritance, subject to the French king, and losing their natural
(f) Though few classical imitations are discoverable in the writings of Provencal bards,
yet there is a great similarity in this thought and the reflexion made by the ghost of Hector,
la the second book of Virgil's 2Bneid:
si pergatnadextra
Defendi possent, etiam hoc defensa fuissent.
Could any mortal hand prevent our Fate,
This hand, and this alone, had sav'd the state.— Hit.
Voi, i. 37 577
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
sovereigns, aud, consequently, the splendour of their courts, the
cultivation and favour of their language were suddenly discontinued,
and it was soon as much disregarded as the jargon of any other
provincial dialect. It has ever been the same with the language of
countries that have lost their princes and independence: the Irish,
the Scots, and the Welch who were once proud of their vernacular
tongues and poetry, seem to have lost all desire of cultivating either,
when their capitals were .deprived of the presence of their natural
and hereditary sovereigns.
The Provencals ceased writing after the fourteenth century.
The Troubadours had degraded themselves by their licentiousness
to such a degree as to be suppressed and banished with ignominy.*
Courts were disgusted with the crouds of these rapacious and corrupt
artists without talents. Like the Knights Templars and the Jesuits,
their .disgrace and persecution became general; and there was no
country in Europe that was disposed to pity or encourage them
after they had been publicly censured and branded in France by
Philip Augustus.
It is very difficult to separate the Provencal dialect from the
language that was spoken during the middle ages in other parts
of the French dominions.** The Normans made it their
boast at the beginning of the eleventh century, that they
spoke the Romanse language with purity, particularly at
Rouen (s). Some of the writers of. those times call the
French language Lingua Gallica, and some Romana, or Romana
Rustica. The term Romanse, derived from the language in which
tales and novels were first written, did not for many years after this
period convey the same idea as at present. Parler Roman was
another expression for speaking French. In the time of Charles V.
of France, the same expression is used by Guillaume de Nangy.
And as the rustic Romanse language was that of the courts of
French princes in general, every heroic history and metrical
narration, and indeed almost every thing that was written in that
language, was called Romans, or Romance. This is confirmed by
a line of the Roman d'Alexandre, by Lambert Li Cors :
Vestu comme Frangois, et sot parler Romans.
He dressed like a Frenchman, and spoke the Romance.
It was not till the reign of Philip Augustus, at the latter end
of the twelfth and beginning of the thirteenth century, says M. de la
(s) Revol. de la Langue Fran. p. 1x3.
.here cing the Trcrabad°«» wr& ti» Jongleurs, who were travelling
** On the contrary, there is not the slightest difficulty.
378
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
Ravaliere (*), that men of learning and reputation in the capital
ventured to write in the vulgar tongue; when, still leaving the Latin
tongue in possession of hymns, and other poems on sacred subjects,
they exercised their talents upon themes merely secular; but most
frequently in lyric compositions.
The present FRENCH LANGUAGE is allowed to have
originated from corrupt Latin, ancient Gallic, and Teutonic,
brought into Gaul by the Franks; but in the southern parts of
France, bordering upon the Mediterranean, many Greek words are
still .distinguishable, which are supposed to have been brought
thither by the colonies of Phoceans planted there in remote
antiquity, and, perhaps, " by Greek merchants trading to
Marseilles.
According to M. de Sainte-Palaie (u), the principal difference
between the French and Provencal languages during the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries, consisted in the terminations of the same
words. When the French used the e feminine, the Provencals used
a or o, neither of which were pronounced, as is the case in our words
se# and people. The Provencal terminations resembled these of
the Italian and Spanish languages, and where the French used eux
and eur, the Provencals had os and or.
M. de la Ravaliere (x) observes that laymen in the provinces
began to write the vulgar language much earlier than in the capital,
where Latin was longer understood (y). The year 1130 was the
date of the first poem in French, of which tradition has preserved
the name: Prise de Jerusalem, par le Chevalier Bechada ; but no
vestige of this work is come down to the present times.*
The most ancient remnants of the French prose language are
the laws of William the Conqueror, who died 1087, and the sermons
of St. Bernard, written early in the following century, in which it
appears that this language differed considerably from that of
Provence, of the same period, as it was written by^the Troubadours
(*).**
But the early poets of Provence and Normandy rendered their
dialects superior to all others at that time by their songs, and tales,
which were read with great avidity. Works of amusement, being
within the reach of every kind of reader, extend the influence of a
language universally, while those of philosophy and science can
only be read by the learned.
(t] Anrienncte des Chansons, par le meme, p. 214.
(«) Mem. de Lift, torn xxiv. p. 680.
(#) Ubi supra, p. 119.
Cv) In the first Crusade, 1095. the military cry or signal for battle, used by the French,
differed but little from Latin; Deu lo volt, for Deus illud wit.
(*) Recherches sur les plus anciennes inductions en langue Francoise, par I' Abbe Lebeuf,
Mem. de Litt. torn. xvii. sme, partie.
* Several earlier French poems are extant. The earliest known is the Cantitene de Sainte
Eulalie dating from the gth cent
** The oldest piece of French prose is Les $ermenfs fa $pfasbou*f 4a$n£ from 842.
379
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The chief difference and difficulties in these dialects, to modes
readers, arise from the capricious, or careless orthography in whic
they have been written : * as the same word, by the same authoi
in the same line, is frequently disguised by a new combination c
letters.
The French are unable to produce specimens of poetry in thei
vulgar tongue, or any of its dialects, of an earlier date than th
conquest of England, 1066, or indeed than the beginning of th
twelfth century, " So that probably," says the learned editor c
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, (a) " the oldest French poem of an;
length, now extant, is a translation of the Bestiarius, by Phil, d
Thaun." The authors of the Histone Litter aire de la France (6)
suppose it io have been written about 1125, that is, thirty year
before le Brut, which Fauchet places at the head of French poems ,(c]
No canticles or hymns unmixed with Latin can be found i
France with musical notes of so early a period as the twelfti
century, except in ecclesiastical books, where the rhymes wer
generally masculine, because they best suited singing ; " And i
seems," says the Abbe Le Beuf (d), " as if the musical notes set t
this old language would best discover when our forefathers mad
a word consist of two or more syllables which we pronounce ii
one («)."
(a] Vol. iv. p. 50.
(6) Tom, ix. p. 173—190.
(c) The Bestiarius is a kind of natural history, in rhyme; and Le Brut is the title of
metrical and fabulous history of Britain. It is called Le Brut d Angleterre, from Brutus, the sc
of JEneas, the pretended founder of the British nation. The date of this composition, which
imagined to be only a translation, versified, of the History of Geoffery of Monmouth in Lati
is given by the author himself in four verses at the end of the work :
Puts que Dieu incarnation
Pris, pour noire redemption,
M.CX. & cinq ans
Fist Maistre Wistace Romans.
This citation, from the preface to the Fabliaux affords an additional proof in favour of tl
arguments used by the editor of the Canterbury Tales, concerning the name of the author
Le Brut : Wistace and Eustache, in French verse are trisyllables, and Vace, Wace, Guace, ar
Gasse, dissyllables. Now, if this Romanser's name be regarded as a trisyllable, there then w:
be nine syllables in the last verse of the Quatrain, which is one more than either of tit
rest contains.
13 345678
Puts que Dieu incarnation
i 2 345678
Pns pour notre redemption
123 .456 7 8
Mills cent cinquante"^ et cinq ans
i 23456789
Fit maistre Wistace cest Romans.
Wace or Gace would certainly suit the metre better :
1234567 8
Fit maistre Wace cest Romans.
However, it is probable, such was the unsettled state of orthography before the invention i
printing, that all these appellations implied one and the same person.
(d) Traite Hist, du Chant Eccl. p. 115.
(«) The same expedient would greatly facilitate the reading our own old poets, by enablii
us to ascertain the number of syllables in each line, and pointing out their true accentuatio:
could we but find the melodies to which they were originally set and sung: for though v
should frequently meet with several notes to one syllable, yet no composer was ever so carele
or ignorant, as to leave a syllable without a note.
* The varying orthography/is, of course, due to the- dialects. .
580
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
It is not only the ecclesiastical books of Paris which furnish
proofs of early chanting in the French language ; still more ancient
examples may be found in cities remote from the capital: Du
Cange, under the word Farsa, and Epistola farsita, has proved that
it was once universal in all the provinces of France ; and Carpentier,
his continuator, says, that they still sing the epistle of St. Stephen at
Aix in Provence, half in French and half in Latin; and this they
call Les plaints de Saint Esteve, or, " The complaints of St.
Stephen." The same practice subsisted very lately at Rheims ;
and in the rules for the church service of Soissons, written in 1097,
under bishop Nivelon the first, it is ordained in the Rubric that three
sub-deacons, robed in sacred vestments, should sing Entendez tuit
a cest sermon (/).
The following specimens of their ancient chants to the French
language, with which the people were amused or instructed on certain
festivals, were found by the Abbe Le Beuf at Amiens. However,
it was a common practice in the Gallic church during the ninth
century, according to this author, to read the acts of saints during
the mass, in Latin : but he supposes that this language was then
sufficiently understood by the ancient Gallic families. The practice
of singing canticles or carols in the vulgar tongue, on Christmas-eve,
and thence called noels, in the country churches of France, had its
origin about the time that the common people ceased to understand
Latin (£).
Such chants as were appropriated to St. Stephen's day, were
usually sung in the following manner: the sub-deacon first repeated
each verse of the epistle in Latin, and two choristers sung the
explication ar paraphrase ; all were mounted in the pulpit, in order to
be the better understood (h).
The missals, whence these specimens were extracted, are in
Gregorian notes, written on a staff of four red lines, in the following
manner:
Prologue. In Die S. Stephani Epistola.
«o. • -ten - d£s- tout a chest sar - • -mon,
But I shall exhibit them in a more modem dress.
(/) These are the first words of the prologue or introduction to the paraphrase, in old
French, of the epistle of St. Stephen.
(g) The word noel is derived from natalis, and signified originally a cry of joy at
'Christmas. Origines de Menage in v. NOUEL.
(h) Mr. Addison tells us, Spectator, No. 18, that when operas were first exhibited in
England, "the Italian actors sung their parts in their own language, at the same time that our
countrymen performed them in our own native tongue." Indeed, part of the church-service in
Russia is still performed in Greek, and part in the Sclavonian language.
A GENERAL HlSTOftY OF MUSIC
Prologue to the Paraphrase of the Epistle for St. Stephen's Day.
ENTENDES
TOUT A CHEST SAR MON ET OAR & LAI TOUT EN
— g — SK - - - = - *•» *»*.!_ L> - ' - » V - -^ ^ » •p — 9
COMMENT, & PAR QUELJLE MES^PROl "SON, LE LA . PI - DERENT U p£ . - . ION
POUR JE . SUS CR1ST.& POUR SO?
L'ORRES BIEN EN LA L£ . . - ^ ^ - - -THON
CHESTE LECHON QUE- CHI VQUS UST
FAIT DES A . - POS - TRES JE - SUS
SAINT LUC LA.PEL.-ENTQUE LE RT;
? S& § . & fll U A ^- - »T; "«•£•" L-^T
Jt
•-
'us.
. TE, ET TANS DE, GRACE & DE BON
U A.PO.TRE. U DIEU A ."7^ '
0 ***i,U d J d **
-DE «.•: NE POUR PRECHI - ER EN
ONT SAINT ES.TE.VE OR
VE-RTT
J
J ^ -\
=F
d d
STE . PHA -"NRJS TENUS CRA-TUA% • & fQR-Ti TU. .Dt -NE
i
I
FA- d -E- BAT PRO- Dl - Q
A ET SIC - NA MAG . . MA IN PO - PU . LO
SAMT B . TC - VB DONT JE VOUS CHANT, HAMS DE C8ACE a DE VIR .
P
"Tils GRANT, FAIS-OIT EL PU . IE MES - CR?-^- - - ANT Ml - RA .-
a d d .J ' *l. -d. d ^ ^ d ^ •'"
OES CiliANS tSEff PBEE . - .*CHACT~' "g Cfe - Tl . &J . tf . B SftU . . . . .CHANT.
ff
^
CO
SUR-KX- E..-RUNT AU.-.TEM OUIDAM DE ST.-NA--
- CA, St. (
(i) " Listen all to this sermon, both clerks and laymen all around : and I will relate to
every one the passion of the Baron St Stephen: how, and by what treason he was wickedly
stoned, for Jesus Christ and for his name: here you will have it in the lesson. [Lesson from
5*3
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
The melody of the preceding chant seems of much higher
antiquity than the words, as it greatly resembles that which
Meibomius has printed in his preface to the seven ancient
Greek writers on Music, to which he thinks Te Deum was
originally sung.
The following Chant, for the Feast of St. John the Evangelist,
was extracted from a MS. at Amiens, written about the year 1250.
[•' <* Jjj c rjjj g>r «
^'-BON CHRES . T) . EM Qu£ Q|EU COM OAJIST {EN ION BA^t'TjAJSlE, QU SQH F1L .MIST,
> ft 01 . EZ LE UE'-'SiON' CON 'vpUS 1JST, CUE. JHESUS LJE BL7 Si .RAC FIST.
, _ _— — w ^ — ^ — ^ • ^^f ' • i m B
i' E-CUST" PARTIE EN-PRIE,. ET ENCETTE FESTE LAIS - SIST,
SAINF JE - . HAN QUE DIEU £S . UT, L£ CPU - -TgM GERMAIN JHESUS CRIST,
5?^
-LES ET
PA - RO - LES ET FA1S ES.- - -"QWT LEG » Tl . O U BR1 SA . PI . . . EN . . ..
^ i^JI " '* ». { J » . I J U ^ ^ I J Jj Q *» J I , i JJ J .^' ^ I *J
— jlTgTI i LT* p **w g v i r 1° v i ^Lr^jflg t' rf g g
TI... AE jHE/SUS, NOS.TRE BOJNTAiVOES* SA - M - ENCE WEU EST NO^ME,
The same Chant is repeate,d several times to different words;
but as these specimens are given more to shew the state of Music
?rt so early a period, than that of Poetry, I shall quit this Melody,
and insert another of the same antiquity, which, however, when
written in common notes, and barred, seems more like a modern
French secular air, than an ancient ecclesiastical Chant.
the Acts of the Apostles."] This lesson that he reads to you, was written by St. Luke, in the
Acts of the Apostles of Jesus Christ, inspired by the Holy Ghost." In diebus illis. It was in
those days of piety, and of so much faith and grace that God in his great mercy died for
Christianity. In this happy time, the apostles beloved of God "chose St. Stephen to preach
the truth." Stephanus plenus gratia et jortitudine faciebat prodigia et signa magna in populo.
St. Stephen, of whom I sing, full of grace and virtue, did great wonders "and miracles among
the people, preaching the word of God and the Christian faith to unbelievers." Surrexerunt
autem quidam de synagoga, &c.
(k) "Good Christians, whom God conquered in long battle, when he sent his only Son,
hear the lesson that is now read unto you, which Jesus the son of Sirac made."
"The holy church selected part of it, and uses it on this Feast of St. John, the cousin
gennan of Jesus Christ, whom God elected, and who wrote both his words and actions."
Lectio libri sapientia. "Jesus our good advocate, the wisdom of God is named, &c."
583
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
New Year's Day.
ve.- ment Dieudecharvestffw dafen ... a
PW -tout
main -a
Rsn. . donr li
, -••- -• - catdou -che ment
Qufsi" bjenso. .$* " .vie ou - - - -^
P=*=F
- vra; et pour npstre ra - cate -
jusc-.e .'!a morfc su- .'mi-.J
P lh r f Pirrf fi-fc J-
Lee - tfy •=--. . o e . pis . to - lae
Be-a-ti pauli
rr?
3"C7
=F|
TIM0"
•p"
— r-h
*?
^
-s-l
hf-i
-f r r »
4—
4—
-fecCfH
J*
j; _
J —
t;A &<•
(TO)
This melody, compared with simple plain-chant, is very florid,
and full of such embellishments as seem to have been in favour
during the thirteenth century. The original copy consists of three
kinds of notes, longs, breves, and semibreves, besides ligatures and
triplets. " It is easy to suppose/' says the Abbe Le Beuf, " that
the design of those who established such chants in some of the
churches of France, was to .distinguish festivals and holy times, by
the ornaments and graces with which they were sung; as, in others
was done by allowing particular portions of the service to be
performed in Fauxbourdon, or Counterpoint (n)."
The French have at all times had a passion for such music as
their country afforded. King Pepin made the chants of the church,
which were indeed Roman, his particular study, arid his son
Charlemagne had Roman masters to teach it, and established
schools for it in all parts of his empire. In the tenth century the
singular attention that was paid to its culture would encourage a
belief that it was regarded as one of the most necessary of the
liberal arts, and had arrived at a higher pitch of perfection than
is now easy to discover. Indeed the treatises that were written
on the subject in the preceding century were innumerable; but the
writers of the tenth and succeeding centuries hardly ever speak of
the abilities of a man of letters without including, as an honourable
accomplishment, his progress in music. There was no school in
S"Good people, for whose salvation God deigned to cloath himself in flesh, and humbly
a cradle, who has the whole world in his hand. Render him sweet thanks who in his
life worked such wonders; and for our redemption humbled himself even to death. Lectio
cpistola, &c.— Lesson from the Epistle of St. Paul to Titus: St. Paul sent this ditty, &c."
On) Here the word ditie, from Dictum, is used in its primitive sense for an epistle, a
saying, a sentence, and not for a poem, or song, to which it was afterwards appropriated.
(«) TratU Hist, sur U Chant Eccles. p. 133.
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
which it was not taught, and the greatest masters, such as Remi
d'Auxerre, Hucbald of St. Amand, St. Odo of Cluni, Gerbert
Scholasticus, and Abbon taught it with the same care as the most
sublime sciences. It is to be wished, however, that some
consummate judge of music and antiquity, of indisputable authority
would kindly inform us, once for all, what were the excellencies of
this music which were so highly esteemed and so diligently
cultivated. " It is difficult to imagine," say the authors of the
Histoire Litter air e de la France (o), " that ail this care and study
was bestowed upon mere plain chant. For ancient authors who
speak of chanting in the church, and of other music, never confound
them; nor does what they say of the one at all suit the other. In
the time of Charlemagne when the plain-chant of the Gallican
church was changed for that of the Roman, no mention is made of
a change in other music, which we may suppose remained the same
as before."
In answer to this charitable remark of the pious authors of the
Literary History of France it may be observed, that the venerable
personages of whom they speak had too seriously renounced the
vanities of the world to study and teach the light and scurrilous
strains, as they were then called, with which the vulgar were
captivated. The difficulty of understanding the peculiar property
of each mode, and learning the numerous chants in the
Antiphonarium, not only for the use of Sundays and common days,
but for the several festivals throughout the year, must have
employed all the time which ecclesiastics could spare from more
serious and devout occupations. But that no distinction was made
between the word music and plain chant is certain, from the titles
of all the MS. tracts on these subjects that are come down to us;
in which, though no other rules are given than merely for the
ecclesiastical modes and canto fermo, yet they are called treatises
on music: as Odo's dialogue beginning, Quid est Musica? The
Enchiridion Musica of Hubald; and Guido's Micrologus, Sive Libri
duo De Musica, in the dedication of which to Theodald the author
himself says — ccepi inter alia Musicam pueris tradere. " Among
other things I began to teach the children (of our convent) music."
The truth is that a rage for universality in sciences during this
century impeded the progress of all. The study of the Trivium,
comprehending grammar, rhetoric, and logic; the Quadrivium,
arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy, including all the
liberal arts, could afford no leisure for becoming profound in any
one of them, and each individual contenting himself with that
superficial acquaintance with the sciences which was required by his
college, could never quit the beaten track, or penetrate new regions
of intellectual space. The human mind has limits which are veiy
remote from omniscience; and a rage for universal knowledge is
more frequently the consequence of ostentation and frivolous
curiosity than a serious desire to fathom the abyss of true science.
(p) To. vL p. 71.
584
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Augustine, Boethius, and Cassiodorus, wrote upon all the liberal
arts (p); but the student who should endeavour to learn them by
the scanty information to be found in their treatises, would have
little less trouble on his hands, and be enabled to advance but little
farther, than the original inventors of the arts they pretend to
teach. To specify the numerous tracts on the subject of music
written long after by the French clergy, of which several are still
preserved in the king's library at Paris, and in other public
libraries, would afford small satisfaction to the reader, without
extracts; and indeed the extracts themselves, were they to be given,
would not, by their utility, repay the trouble of deciphering them.
It was not till the reign of Philip Augustus [1180-1223] that
Songs in the French language became common. Gautier de Coincy,
an ecclesiastic of St. Medard de Soissons, composed a considerable
number, which are still preserved in MS. among his other writings.
The most ancient French songs are called lays : * " They were a
kind of elegies," says M. 1'Eveque de la Ravaliere (q), " filled with
amorous complaints. The origin of this species of composition is
such as rendered it necessarily plaintive: as the word Lai is
imagined to have been derived from Lessus, Latin, which signifies
complaints and lamentations. However there are some lays which
describe moments of joy and pleasure more than sorrow or pain;
tpd others upon sacred subjects (rj.
Chaucer, who frequently uses the word lay, confines it wholly to
jongs of complaint and sorrow:
And in a lettre wrote he all his sorwe,
In manere of a complaint or a Lay,
Unto his faire freshe lady May.
Cant. Tales, v. 9754.
He was dispeired, nothing dorst he say,
Sauf in his songes somwhat wold he wray
His wo, as in a general complaining;
He said, he loved, and was beloved nothing.
Of swiche matere made he many Layes,
Songes, complaintes, roundels, virekiyes -
Tran. T. 11255.
Thus end I this complaining or this Lay. ib.
&) Vide Fabric. Bib. Lot.
(q) Anciente des Chansons, torn. I. p. 225.
(T) The radicicras and penetrating editor of Chaucer's Canterbtiry Tales (see introductory
discourse, vol. rv.) is of a different opinion, and thinks "that Liod, Island. Lied, Teuton.
Leoth. Saxon., and Lai. French, are all to be deduced from the same Gothic original."
Skinner very improbably, I think,^nagines that all these words, especially the AngSsaxon
Ley. and French Lai. are derived from La, the name of a musical note; but this syllable is
never pronounced lay, in solmization, but law. Junius seems equally unfortunate in his
&r^T™1*' .^h heJcrivcs frSm the^Greek, «A™™.llie fcutch, tes?ys, ^all a
hymn, Leysen; and. perhaps, continues he, from the frequent use of Kyrie Eleison,
, on solemn festivals the word Lay had its origin. ****«"*,
*The oldest French lays were the Chansons de toile dating from the early part of the
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
In Spencer's time, however, its acceptation was more general,
and as frequently applied to songs of joy, as sorrow:
To the maiden's sounding timbrels sung
In well attuned notes, a joyous lay. Fairy Queen.
Shakespeare and Milton use it likewise indiscriminately for every
kind of song.
r — Lai seems a word purely Francic and Saxon,* it is neither to
"be found in the Armoric language, nor in the dialect of Provence.
The French poetess Marie [died c. 1216], who in the time of St.
Louis, about the middle of the thirteenth century, translated several
tales from the Armoric language of Bretagne, calls them lais;** but
the term is of much higher antiquity. After its adoption by the
English poets it soon became a generical term in poetry for every
species of verse, as Song is now : but both these words still retain
their particular acceptation as well as generical : for by a song is
understood a short poem set to a tune, and this was the particular
meaning of lay, in the last century among our musical writers.
Tales and songs, says the editor of ancient Fabliaux et Conies
Francois, were the most common and ancient species of poetry. The
French, naturally gay, chearful, and sportive, were more attached
to this species of composition than any other nation, and
communicated this love for lyric poetry to their neighbours. They
must have been in possession of a great number of these songs and
tales, because in all social meetings the custom was for every one
present either to sing a song or tell a story, as appears by the end
of the fable of the priest, qui ot Mere a force, where we read these
verses.
A cest mots fenist cis Fabliaux
Que nous avons en rime mis,
Pour conter devant nos amis.
And according to John li Chapelain, in his ditty of the Sacristain
of Clugny, it was customary for a bard to pay his reckoning with a
story or a song.
Usage est Normandie,
Que qui hebergiez est, qu'il die
Fable ou Chanson a son oste
Ceste costume pas n'en oste
Sire Jehans li Chapelains.
In Normandy a song or tale
Is current coin for wine or ale;
Nor does the friendly host require
For bed and board a better hire.
i In the thirteenth century the songs in vogue were of various
kinds ; moral, merry, and amorous. And at that time melody
* It probably existed in Welsh and Breton.
#* These translations must have been made earlier than Burney supposes, as Marie de
France died long before the middle of the i3th century. The Encyclopedia Britannic* states
that she flourished about 1175-1190.
587
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
seems to have been little more than plain-song, or chanting. The
notes were square, and written on four lines only, like those of the
Romish church, in the clef of C, without any marks for time. The
movement and embellishments of the air depend on the abilities of
the singer. The compass of modern music is much extended since
by the cultivation of the voice, for it was not till towards the end of
St. Lewis's reign that the fifth line began to be added to the stave.
The singer always accompanied himself on an instrument in
unison (s).
The HARP passed for the most noble and majestic of instruments,
and on this account the romancers place it in the hands of their
greatest heroes, as the ancient Greek bards did the lyre.
This instrument was in such general favour that an old poet (t)
has made it a subject of a poem, called Le Diet de la Harpe, " the
Ditty, or Poem, upon the Harp," and praises it as an instrument too
good to be profaned in taverns, or places of debauchery, saying that
it should be used by knights, esquires, clerkes, persons of rank, and
ladies with plump and beautiful hands ; and that its courteous and
elegant sounds should be heard only by the elegant and good.
It had twenty-five strings, to each of which the poet gives an
allegorical name : calling one Liberality, another Wealth, a third
Politeness, a fourth Youth, &c., applying all these qualities to his
mistress, and comparing her to the harp.
The instrument which most frequently served for an
accompaniment to the harp, and which disputed the pre-eminence
with it in the early times of music in France, was the VIOL; and,
indeed, when reduced to four strings, and stript of the frets with
which viols of all kinds seem to have been furnished till the
sixteenth century, it still holds the first place among treble
instruments, under the denomination of Violin.
The Viol played with a Bow, and wholly different from the
Vidle, whose tones are produced by the friction of a wheel, which
indeed performs the part oj a bow, was very early in favour with
the inhabitants of France.* These instruments, however, are
frequently confounded by writers as well as readers; but, to remove
all ambiguity, I shall give an engraving of a figure on the Portico
of Notre Dame at Paris, which, according to Monfaucon («),
represents king Chilperic, with a Violin in his hand (x).
(s) Poesies du roy de Navarre, Tom. ii.
(*) Machau, who flourished in the fourteenth centnxy, and of whom a ferther account will
be given in the present chapter.
(«) Monumens de la Monarchic Francoise. torn. I. p. 56. The cathedral of Notre Dame at
Pans, was founded by Childebert the First, in the siA century: began to be rebuilt S the
tenth century, by king Robert; was continued by his successors, and finished by Philip
Augustus, who died 1223, after a long reign, which began 1180.
(*) See p. 589, No. I.
*The viol as we know it was invented about the isth cent, and Burney is here giving
that name to the various bowed instruments of the troubadours.
The French name was viele, hence the confusion which sometimes arises with the vielle. 01
as it became known later, the Hurdy-Gurdy. VM»**, ui
Other bowed instruments of the period were the rebec, which was probably brought back
from the, east by the early Crusaders, .and the Crowd or Rotte, which ^Itl Y 01™$™.™<x
the 8th cent.
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
589
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
On an antique bason, or ewer, dug up near Soissons, is a
representation of a musician playing on a viol with a long bow. The
late excellent antiquary, 1'abbe Le Beuf, was of opinion that the
workmanship of this bason was executed during the time of the first
race of French kings, that is, before the year 752, which makes the
use of the bow of much higher antiquity in France than can be
proved in any other country. The design engraved upon this vessel,
which was dug up in a place where a palace of one of the kings of
Soissons is supposed to have stood, is divided into compartments,
in one of which is represented a player on the Harp, exalted on a
high seat; on his right hand is a Singer, with a roll of paper in his
hand, and on his left a player on the Viol (y).
In the illuminations of a MS. of the beginning of the fourteenth
century, containing the poems of the King of Navarre, and his
cotemporary poets, described by M. de la Ravaliere (z), is the figure
of a Jongleur, or Minstrel, sitting likewise on an exalted seat, who
seems playing to the king and queen of Navarre (a). But a still
more conspicuous monument of the early use and importance of
the Bow in France may be seen on the portico of the chapel of St.
Julian des Menestriers, at Paris, of which I likewise insert an
engraving (6). This church was built 1331, by Jaques Grure and
Hugues li Lorrain, two of the Jongleurs, or minstrels, of Philip de
Valois : and in the History of the Troubadours (c), M. Millot tells us
that William the Ninth, Count of Poitou, in one of his Poems, after
relating a particular adventure with a common woman in very free
terms, and reflecting upon his bonnes fortunes, or favour with the
ladies, thanks God and St. Julian for his success. "It was then,"
says M. Millot, "customary, such was the superstition of the times,
for libertines to invoke Heaven for success in their most profligate
undertakings; and St. Julian was the particular saint and protector
to whom they addressed themselves on such occasions/' As, in
higher antiquity, Mercury was the patron divinity of thieves (d).
The statue which is fixed at the portico of St. Julian's chapel,
is that of St. Genet, in whose hands the Viol and Bow are placed :
an honour conferred upon him by the minstrels on account of his
(y) See p. 589, No. 3-
(z) Poesies du Roi de Navarre, torn. I. p. 252.
(a) See p. 589, No. 5.
ft) See p. 589, No. 2.
(c) Tom. I. p. ii.
(<*) St. Julian, in order to expiate an involuntary crime, is said to have made a vow that
he would receive into his house all passengers who should be in want of a habitation by
which he obtained the title of the Hospital SAO. and was afterwards addressed aTthe Patron
of travellers, to whom prayers were made for a good lodging. L'Oraison de S. Julian, 6- ?ffotel
deSt. Juke*, were afterwards used by the French in pleasantry, much in the same sense °as
with us, dmng with Duke Humphrey. But in the tales written in old French so early asthe
twelfth century the allusion was more licentious. Boccace (Giorn. II. nov. 2) speaks of the
P^rnostro & San&uhano and makes Rinaldo, after a successful adventure wife T female
return thanks to God and St. Julian: Per la qual co$a Rinaldo Iddio & <;*« rS5«S
590
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
having been a Comedian by profession, and consequently one of
their brethren (e).
The ancient and respectable monuments upon which the Viol
appears, are proofs that it has long been a favourite instrument in
France ; and that the Minstrels, in the highest estimation with the
public, were at all times the best Violists of their age.
Musicians who accompanied such bards as sung their own
historical songs in the halls of princes and nobles at great festivals,
are described by an old French poet who flourished about 1230,
and who is quoted by Duchesne in his edition of the works of Alain
Chartier, and by Borel, Tres. des Antiq.
Suand les tables otees furent
il jugleour in pies esturent
S'ont viols & harpes prises
Chansons, sons, vers et reprises
Et de gestes chantt not ont
Roman du Tournoyement de TAntechrist.
*• When the cloth was ta'en away
r Minstrels strait began to play,
f And while harps and viols join
; Raptur'd bards in strains divine,
, Loud the trembling arches rung
! With the noble deeds we sung.
Though the word Minstrel in our language is confined to a
musician who plays on^nstmments, yet the term Jonglerie, in old
French, included four different species of performers: the
Troubadours who wrote, set, and sung their own verses ; the Singers,
employed by these poets and composers to whom nature had
denied a voice ; the Diseurs, Narrators, or Romancers, who in a
kind of chant recited their metrical histories ; and the Players upon
Instruments, who accompanied the Troubadours and singers, or
performed at feasts and revels without singing. These last exercised
the art of minstrelsy so often mentioned by our poets. The French
word Jongliour or Jongleur is generally thought to be a corruption
(e) Sunus (Recueil des Saints, torn, iv.) informs us that St Genet lived in the time of the
emperor Dioclesian; and that in order to entertain this prince and his people he frequently
ridiculed the Christians upon the stage, where he undertook to represent the ceremonies of
baptism, and performed himself the part of the person that was to be baptised: counterfeiting
sickness, of which he was to be cured by becoming a Christian. But when the priest and
exorcist appeared to perform the ceremony, he was admonished in a vision to renounce the
errors of Paganism, and seriously assume the character of Christian; upon which, he instantly
declared that he would no longer worship idols but receive the divine grace that was offered
unto him, which the other actors and the audience imagined was done in order to render the
scene more natural and amusing; he was therefore baptised according to all the Christian rites,
and dressed in a white robe. After this, soldiers appeared as if sent by the emperor to drag
him before the judge, where he was to worship a statue of Venus which was placed on the
stage for the purpose: Genet, however, loudly protested that he was a Christian and would
adore the true God, and not images of wood or stone. The emperor himself at first believed that
this was only done to heighten his part; but at length finding that he continued to speak like
a Christian and not an actor, he commanded him to be chastised before the people, and
afterwards sent to a prefect of the name of Plautian, who finding it impossible to subdue his
constancy by torture, ordered him to be beheaded. This event happened the twenty-fifth of
August, 303.
591
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
of Joculator ; but this term originally implied a Jester or Buffoon,
rather than a Musician. The etymology, therefore, of this word,
which has been hazarded by M. de la Ravaliere (/) from Ongle, a
nail ; Ongleur, a thrummer of instruments with the nails, seems
ingenious and probable ; as the Lyre, Cithara, Harp, Lute, and
Guitar, the most ancient stringed instruments, have at all times been
played with the nails, and ends of the fingers.
Strolling Musicians of this kind abounded in France so early as
the time of Charlemagne, who forbids their admission into convents
(g) ; and in the first Capitulaiy of Aix la Chapelle (&), this prince
speaks of them as persons branded with infamy. They continued,
however, to amuse the great in private, as well as the people in
public, as a distinct body of men, till the Troubadours introduced
Poetry into France in the dialect of that country. Their
licentiousness was frequently repressed, and their conduct regulated,
by the police ; and, during the reign of Philip Augustus, the
Troubadours and Minstrels were involved in the same disgrace, and
for some time banished the kingdom : which left such a stigma upon
their order, as no efforts of genius, or austerity of manners, could
entirely efface ; though they were afterwards recalled and in some
degree restored to public favour. It is observed by a late elegant
French writer, that " though the proscription of Music and Poetry,
and the kind of inquisition which Philip established against the
Jongleurs in France, may have originated from the laudable
intention of repressing those disorders which the abuse of their
profession had occasioned ; yet, if he had reflected that the fate of
letters was at that time in the hands of the Troubadours, and that
among every people approaching towards civilization, the progress
of virtue is generally proportioned to the cultivation of arts and
literature, he would have inflicted a less ignominious punishment on
the objects of his displeasure. For such is the empire of prejudice,
that the^anathema it pronounces against the abuse of a profession
remains iniull force, even after the reformation of those who exercise
it/' This author ventures to pronounce the Jongleurs or
Troubadours and Minstrels, notwithstanding the contempt with
which they are named at present, to have been the fathers of
literature in France : " It was they who banished scholastic quarrels
and ill-breeding, and who polished the manners, established the
rules of politeness, enlivened the conversation, and purified the
gallantry of its inhabitants. The urbanity which distinguishes us
from other people, was the fruit of our Songs ; and if it is not from
them that we denve our virtues, they at least taught us how to render
them amiable (i)."
a title iven
L'OT^instr^ so early as the eighth century was
the Maestro di Capella of king Pepin father of
Charlemagne ; and afterwards to the Coryphaus, or leader of any
(fl Poes. du Roy de Navarre, tome ii. p. 355.
fe) Uem. de Lift, tome rv. p. 581 & tome xvii. p. 222. 713, & seq.
(h) Captt. BaUtz. tome i. ait 44. anno 789.
ft Tableau Historiquede Gens deLettres, parl'Abbe de Longchanips, tome v.
592
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
band of musicians. However in process of time, the power of music
over the munificence of the public being enfeebled by the multiplicity
of those who had no other subsistence, it was thought expedient to
try the force of new and different incentives to admiration and
benevolence.
Among the Metrical Tales and Fables of the twelfth and
thirteenth century, written in the Romanse or old French language,
there is one still subsisting in the libraries of France, and in the
Bodleian Library (k) intitled Les deux Menestriels, the Two
Minstrels ; in which their several talents necessary to their profession
are displayed : from this I shall give an extract, as it will shew at
least the state of Minstrelsy in France at the time it was written (Z).
" Two companies of minstrels meeting at a castle, endeavour
to amuse its Lord by counterfeiting a quarrel. One of them
quitting his companions, insults a minstrel of the other troop,
calling him a ragged beggar, who never had done any thing to
deserve a better dress from his patrons; and, in order to prove his
own superiority, says with triumph, that he can tell stories in verse,
both in Romanse and Latin tongue; can sing forty Lays and Heroic
Songs (m), as well as every other kind of songs which may be
called for; that he knew also stories of Adventures, particularly
those of the Round Table; and in short, that he could sing
innumerable romances, such as Vivian, Reinhold the Dane, <S>c.
and relate the stories Flora and White-Flower. He finishes the
enumeration of his talents by facetiously informing the spectators,
that he did not chuse his present employment for want of knowing
others; as he was possessed of several secrets by which he could
make a great fortune: for he knew how to circle an egg, bleed cats,
blow beef, and cover houses with omelets. He also knew the
art of making goats-caps, cows' bridles, dogs' gloves, hares'
armour, joint stool cases, scabbards for hedging-bills; and if he
were furnished with a couple of harps, he would make such music
as they never heard before." At length, after some additional
abuse, he advises the Minstrel whom he attacks, to quit the castle
without staying to be turned out; " For I .despise you too much,"
says he, " to disgrace myself and comrades by striking such a
pitiful fellow."
The other vilifies him in his turn, and asks how he dares
presume to call himself a Minstrel, who does not know a single
tale or ditty worth hearing. " For my part," says he, " I am
not one of your ignorant fellows who can only take off a cat, play
the fool, the drunkard, or talk nonsense to my comrades; but
one of those true and genuine Troubadours who invent every thing
they say."
(k) MS. Digby, 86.
(Z) The remarks upon this Tale by the late excellent editor of Fabliaux et Conies du XII.
et du XIII. Siecle, who has explained them in modern French prose, are so ample and
satisfactory, that I shall here avail myself of his diligence and information; referring those who
are in possession of that instructive and amusing work to vol. I p. 299.
(m) Chansons de Geste: Lays have been described above.
VOI,. i. 38 593
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Je Joueur
Ge sui juglere de Vielle;
Si sai ae Muse el de frestele,
Et de Harpe et de Chiphonie,
De la gigne, de i'Annonie,
du
Et el salteire, et en la rote.
Je sais chanson
Sai-ge bien chanter UK& note;
fabliaux
G& sai Contes, je sai i able ax,
beaux dits nouveau:-:
Ge sai confer beax diz noveax,
vielles nouvelles
Rotruenges vies et noveles,
Et servantois, et pastoreles,
d'amour
Si sai porter conseil d'amors
chapel fleurs
Et faire chapelec de flors,
d'amoureux
Et cainture de druerie
courtoisie
Et beau parler de corloisie (n).
The Minstrel then specifies the several poetical tales he can
repeat, most of which are still subsisting; aad then, having
displayed his talents as a musician and a man of wit, he next
describes his dexterity at tricks and slight of hand :
All the Minstrel art I know:
I the Viol veil can play;
I the Pipe and Syrinx blow,
Harp and Gigue my hand obey.
Psaltry, Symphony and Rote
Help to charm the listening throng,
And Armonia lends its note
While I warble forth my song.
I have tales and fables plenty,
Satirs, past'rals, full of sport.
Songs to Vielle I've more than twenty,
Ditties too of ev'ry sort.
I from lovers tokens bear,
I can flow'ry chaplets weave,
Am'rous belts can well prepare,
And with courteous speech deceive.
jouer
Bien sai joer de I'escambot,
1'escarbot
Et faire venir I'echarbot
sautant
Vif et saillant dessus la table.
maint jeu
Et si sai meint beau geu de table
d'adresse de magie
Et d'entregiet et d'ariumaire
Bien sai un enchantement faire
jouer batons
Ge sai joer des baasteaxf
couteaux
Et si sai joer des costeax,
fronda
Et de la corde et de la fonde (g}.
Joint stool feats to shew I'm able,
I can make the beetle run
All alive upon the table,
Where I shew delightful fun.
At my slight-of-hand you'll laugh,
At my magic you will stare;
I can play at quarter-staff,
I can knives suspend in air.
I enchantments strange devise,
And with cord and sling surprise.
(») A few of the instruments of which the minstrel boasts he is master, and which are not
explained in the translation of the verses, require some comment. The Muse is the muzzle or
tube of a bag-pipe, without the bellows. Commuse was the name of a horn, or Cornish pipef
blown like our bagpipe. Chalmy, shawm in old- English, is a clarinet of low pitch f and
chalumeau is French for a large bagpipe made of box, with a great bourdon or drone, as
musette as for one of a small size. Of what kind of instrument was the chiponie, cyfoine
sympkome, is not very well known. Some of the quotations given by Du Gauge describe it as
a wind instrument, and others as a species of drum, pierced with holes like a sieve. I have
not the least doubt but that the instrument called a rote, so frequently mentioned by our
25* ^ f 7^ <f ^ ** °Id R8nfh P06*8'^ ** same « the modern vielle (see above, p.
588) and had its first name from rota the wheel with which its tones are produced The
t Trompettes, home, and shalmys
The sea burnt all of fyre Grekys.
Rom. of Richard Coeur de Lion, written about the beginning of the I4th century
594
the German name for the fiddle.
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
He moreover boasts that besides the heroic songs which his
antagonist mentioned, he can sing many others, such as Oliver
Roland, &c., and then, like him, finishes by some vulgar pleasan-
tries, telling the company that he had the honour to be acquainted
with all the bailiffs, catchpoles, and renowned champions of his
time : Augier Poup6e, who at one stroke cuts off the ear of a cat
with a sword : Herbert Kill-Beef, who breaks an egg wifli its point,
&c., and the most celebrated Minstrels, Firebrand, Smash,
Turn-about, Sliver, &c. At length addressing himself to his rival
he advises him, if he has any shame left, never again to be seen
in the same place as himself: " and you, my lord," says he,
" if I have been more eloquent than he, I entreat you to turn him
out of doors, to convince him that he's an ignorant blockhead."
The profession of Minstrel at this time seems to have required
such talents and abilities as it would be difficult to find in the
possession of any modern musician. We will suppose his musical
knowledge and performance upon instruments to have been as
inferior to those of the present professors, as the instruments
themselves were to those of modern construction; and indeed,
though we may imagine it possible for a Minstrel to know Latin,
and to be able to compose tales in that language, yet it is
hardly probable that he would risk it. The editor of the Fabliaux,
says that in all his researches after the remains of such productions,
he has seen very few; and indeed they would have been prevented
from becoming common, by the small number who would have
understood them; so that the Minstrel's assertion in this particular
may be regarded as a mere swagger, or challenge, which he knew
would not be accepted. But all deduction made, his qualifications
will still remain so numerous and of such a kind as, it is to be
hoped, will place him out of the reach of rivalry in the present age :
for I apprehend it would be difficult to find musicians now, who
would venture to boast of such accomplishments, even if he were
possessed of them, as making amorous girdles, delivering letters
or messages for lovers, teaching them the pink of courtesy and
flower of compliments, or how to ornament their persons in the
most emphatical manner.
To what kind of air the metrical romances which he mentions
were sung, is not left on record; but that it was as simple as the
ecclesiastical chants, is natural to suppose, as these romances,
consisting of many thousand lines, were too long to be set or sung
to very elaborate music. The author of an old romance called
Gerard de Roussillon, says that he has written it upon the model
of the Song of Antioch, which the editor of Fabliaux imagines to
imply, that it might be sung to the same tune. Nothing was more
common for many ages after this period, than for poets to write
new songs to old tunes, and for musicians to make variations -on
these tunes; for we find little else done by either during the reign
of queen Elizabeth.
About the year 1330, the minstrels of Paris formed themselves
into a company, and obtained a charter. The police frequently
595
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
repressed their licentiousness, and regulated their conduct: Philip
Augustus banished them the first year of his reign, but they were
recalled by his successors, and united under the general name of
Menestraudie, Minstrelsy; having a chief appointed over them, who
was called King of ike Minstrels (A). Lewis IX. exempted them
from a tariff or toll at the entrance into Paris, on condition that
they would sing a song, and made their monkeys dance to the
tollman, perhaps, to prove their title to such indulgence; and
hence arose the well-known proverb: Payer en Gabades et en
monnole de singe (i).
The associated Minstrels inhabited a particular street, to which
they gave the name, which it still retains, of St. Julien des
Menestriers. It was here that the public was provided with musicians
for weddings, and parties of pleasure; but as a greater number of
them usually attended on such occasions than were ordered, and
all expected to be paid the same price, William de Germont, provost
of Paris, in 1331, prohibited the Jongleurs and Jongler esses from
going to those who required their performance, in greater numbers
than had been stipulated, upon a severe penalty. In 1395, their
libertinism and immoralities again incurred the censure of govern-
ment, by which it was strictly enjoined that they should henceforth,
neither in public nor private, speak, act, or sing any thing ^ that
was indecorous or unfit for modest eyes and ears, upon pain of
two months imprisonment, and living on bread and water.
In the reign of Charles VI. [1380-1422] they seem to have
relinquished the juggling art, and to have confined themselves
more particularly to the practice of music. It was about this
time that treble and base rebecs, or viols with three strings, began
to be in use, either to play in octaves to each other, or perhaps in
a coarse kind of counterpoint, of which the laws were now forming :
on this occasion the Minstrels assumed the title of Players on high
and low Instruments (k), and this pompous denomination was
confirmed by a charter in 1401, which begins in the following
manner:
" Charles by the grace of God, &c. &c. It having been humbly
represented, unto us, by the King of the Minstrels, that since
the year 1397 when they were formed and associated into a company
for the free and lawful exercise of their profession of Minstrelsy (Z),
according to certain rules and ordinances by them formerly made
and ratified, and by which all Minstrels, as well placers on high
instruments as low, having agreed and bound themselves to appear
before the aforesaid King of the Minstrels, to take oath and swear
to the performance of the covenants hereafter declared, &c."
(K) See Du Cange, in V. Rev. Ministellorum. Our king of the Fidlers, or Minstrels, in
Staffordshire, was probably an establishment derived from the French, as the earliest mention
of it in onr annals is in 1338. tomb. Hen. IV. and in the fourth year of Richard II. The records
of France, however, have this title in the time of St. Lewis, and in that of his successor.
ft) Essai sur la Musique Anciennc et Moderns, Tom. I. p. 415. This is a fact, however,
which, to be believed, requires more than a bare assertion : for an imposition so ludicrous and
useless to the state, seems very unworthy of so grave and pious a prince as St. Lewis.
(fe) Joueurs des Instrument fant haut comme las. (?) Menetraudise.
59$
THE STATE OF 'MUSIC TO 1450
It appears from the ancient records of Paris that the Dancing
Masters were incorporated in the same company with the Minstrels,
under the denomination of Mattres jpueurs d'instrumens, et
MaUres a danser; and that the presentation of the living of St.
Julien des Menestriers had at all times been allowed by the rules
of the church of Paris to appertain to the said company as founders,
lay-patrons, governors, and administrators of the said church (m).
The ancient historians and poets of France mention their Military
Songs of very remote antiquity, in which were celebrated the
heroic deeds of their favourite chiefs and most gallant commanders.
These used to be sung in chorus by the whole army in advancing
to attack an enemy; a custom probably derived from their German
ancestors, as the privilege of leading off this kind of War-Whoop
usually appertained to the Bard who had composed it.
Charlemagne had a great passion for these heroic songs, and, like
our Alfred, not only had them collected, but knew them by heart.
However, the atchievements of this victorious prince and his
captains obliterated those of their predecessors, and gave birth to
new songs. One of these, in praise of Roland, the Orland inamorato
and furioso of Boiardo, Berni, and Ariosto, was longer preserved
than any of the rest. This, the French historians tell us, was begun
at the battle of Hastings, where William became the conqueror of
the English nation, by a knight called Taillefer, on whom this
honour was conferred for his strong and powerful voice. Here he
performed the office of herald minstrel (menestrier huchier) at the
head of the Norman army, and was among the first that were slain
in the onset (n).
The song upon Roland continued in favour among the French
soldiers as late as the battle of Poitiers, in the time of their king John;
who, upon reproaching one of them with singing it at a time when
there were no Rolands left, was answered that Rolands would still
be found if they had a Charlemagne at their head. But however
popular this song may have been in the fourteenth century, it is
not come down entire to the present times.
Yet the marquis de Paulmy having found some fragments of it
in the writings of the old romansers, has collected and digested
them into the following song, which seems to breathe so much of
the true national and military spirit of France, that I shall insert
it with the tune, and a translation.
(m) "Et les reverends feres de la doctrine Chretienne de la frevote de Paris, reeonoissent
que de toute anciennete et a fierjetuite, le dits Maitres joueurs de Violon et a danser, sont les
fotudateurs patrons laiques, presentateurs, gouverneurs et administrates de I Egtee, &c.
Drawn from the extracts inserted in the Essai sur Mus. Anc. et Mod. par M. Laborde, from
the ancient patents and privileges of the minstrel's company. Tom. I. p. 418.
(») The Minstrels were called Heralds, we find from an old French poem entitled Le Diet,
des Herauts, by Baudoin de Conde, on account of the strength and clearness of their voices,
which qualified them so well, not only for animating the soldiers in battle, but for making
proclamations at tournaments and public ceremonies. Fabliaux et Conies du XII. et du XII.
Siecle. Tom. I. p. 297. 8vo. 1779. Carpentier (Sujpl. Du-Cang. Gloss. Lot. Tom II. p. 750)
is of opinion that the French Heralds, called Hiraux, were the same as the Minstrels, and that
they sung metrical tales at festivals : and Mr. Warton has given many proofs (Hist. Eng. Poet
vol. i. p. 332) that in England they frequently received fees or largesse with tfce Minstrels.
597
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
CHANSON de ROLAND.
Gaimeni.
R ^ VAIL.. j^NTBT IE StG NJAtgEU^ffi " '
[ i • J EEj \ j [ j
-CON FAi-sir sou VENT PLEU-RER A
SOIT MONSIEUR SON PE
FORCE LJONJUVA.EUR, NOUS Ett EE ^^
Chanson de Roland
Soldais Francois, chantons Roland,
De son pais il jut la glove,
Lcnom d'un Guerrier si vaillant
Estle signal de la victoire.
Roland etant petit garfon
Fatsott souvent pleurer sa mere:
H etoit vif et polisson—
Tant mieux, disoit monsieur son per?
A la force il joint la valeur, .
Nous en ferons un miliiaire.
Mauvaise tite avec bon coeur
C*est pour reussir a la guerre.
Soldais Franfois, &c.
Military Song, on the French
Champion Roland
Let ev'iy valiant son of Gaul
Sing Roland's deeds, her greatest gloiy,
Whose name will stoutest Foes appal,
And feats inspire for future story.
Roland m childhood had no fears,
Was M of ticks, nor knew a letter,
Which though it cost his mother tears,
w^?161 ??ed/So macn the better:
We'll have him for a soldier bred,
His strength and courage let us nourish.
If bold the heart, though wild the head,
In war he'll but the bette* flourish."
Let ev'ry, &c.
IL
Le pere pensoit justement,
Car dts que Roland jut en age.
On vtt avec etonnement,
Briller sa face et son courage;
Percant escadrons, bataillons,
Renversant tout dans la melee
n jaisoit tourner les talons
Lui tout seul a toute une armfe;
II.
Roland arriv'd at man's estate
Prov'd that his father well admonish'd,
ft1". » ^ Prowess was so great
That : ill the world became astonish'd.
Batelhons, squadrons, he could break,
And singly give them such a beating
That, seeing him, whole armies ouake'
And nothing think of but retreating
Let -ev'ry, &c.
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
Dans le combat particulier
II n&toit Pas mains redoutable,
Qu'on jut geant, qu'on fut sorcier,
Que Yon fut monstre, ou qu'on jut (Liable,
Rien jamais n'arretoit son bras,
II se battoit toujours sans crainte,
Et s'il ne donnoit le trepas
II portoit quelque rude atteinte.
Soldats. &c.
IV.
Quand il falloit downer I'assaut,
Lui mime il appliquoit I'echelle;
II etoit le premier en haut.
Amis, prenez le pour models.
II passoit la nutt au bivac,
L' esprit gaillard, 1'aw.e contents;
Ou dormoit sous un avresac,
Hieux qu'un general sous sa tente.
Soldats, &c.
V.
Pour Vennemi qui resistoit
Reservant toute son audace,
A celui out se spumettoit
II accordoit toujours sa grace.
L'humanitd dans son grand caeur
Renaissoit. apres la victoire;
Et le soir meme le vainqueur
Au vaincu proposoit a boire.
Soldats. &c.
~ VI.
Ouand on lai demandoit pourquoi,
Les Francois etoient en campagne,
II repondoit de bonne joi,
C'est par Yordre de Charlemagne.
Ses ministres, ses iavoris
Ont raisonne sur cette affaire;
Pour nous, battons ses ennemis,
C'est ce que nous avons a jaire.
Soldats, &c.
VII.
Roland vivoit en bon Chretin,
II entendoit souvent la messe,
Donnoit aux pauvres de son bien,
Et mime il alloit a confesse;
Mais de son confesseur Turpin
n tenoit que c'est oeuvre pie
De battre, et de mener grand train
Les ennemis de sa patriet
Soldats, &c.
VIII.
Roland a table etoit ckarmantf
Buvoit du vin ayec delice;
Mais el en usoit sobrement
Les jours de gar de et d'exercice;
Pour le service il observoit
De conserves sa tete entiere,
Ne buvant que quand il n'avoit
Ce jour-la nen de mieux a faire.
Soldats, &c.
IX.
II corrigeoit avec rigueur
Tous ceux qui lui cherchoient querelle,
Mais il n' 'etoit point querelleur,
Bon camarade, ami fidele:
L'ennemi seul dans les combats
Trembloit, voyant briller sa lame,
Et pour le deriner des soldats
II se seroit mis dans la flame.
Soldats, &c.
m.
In single combat 'twas the same:
To him all foes were on a level,
For ev'ry one he overcame
If giant, sorc'rer, monster, devfl.
His arm no danger e'er could stay.
Nor was the goddess Fortune fickle.
For if his foe he did not slay
He left him in a rueful pickle.
Let ev'ry, &c.
IV.
In scaling walls, with highest glee.
He first the ladder fixt, then mounted;
Let him, my boys, our model be,
Who men or perils never counted.
At night, with scouts he watch would keep
With heart more gay than one in million.
Or else on knapsack sounder sleep
Than general in his proud pavilion.
Let ev'ry, &c.
V.
On stubborn foes he vengeance wreak'd
And laid about him like a Tartar,
But if for mercy once they squeak'd
He was the first to grant them quarter.
The battle won, of Roland's soul
Each milder virtue took possession;
To vanquish'd foes he o'er a bowl
His heart surrender'd at discretion.
Let ev'ry, &c.
VI.
When ask'd why Frenchmen wield the brand
And dangers new each day solicit,
He said, 'tis Charlemagne's command
To whom our duty is implicit:
His ministers, and chosen few.
No doubt have weigh'd these things in
private,
Let us his enemies subdue.
Tis all that soldiers e'er should drive at.
Let ev'ry, &c.
VII.
Roland like Christian true would live.
Was seen at mass, and in procession;
And freely to the poor would give,
Nor did he always shun confession.
But bishop Turpin had decreed
(His counsel in each weighty matter)
That 'twas a good and pious deed
His country's foes to drub and scatter.
Let ev'ry, &c.
VTII.
At table Roland ever gay,
Would eat, and drink, and laugh, and rattle.
But all was in a prudent way
On days of guard, or eve of battle.
For sbll to king and country true
He held himself their constant debtor,
And only drank in season due,
When to transact he'd nothing better.
Let ev'ry, &c.
IX.
To captious blades he ne'er would bend,
Who quarrels sought on slight pretences;
Though he, to social joys a friend,
Was slow to give or take offences.
None e'er had cause his arm to dread
But those who wrong'd his prince, or nation,
On whom whene'er to 'combat led
He dealt out death and devastation.
Let ev'ry, &c.
599
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
x. *
Roland aimoit U cotillon, Roland too much adored the fair
(On ne ?£? guere rf£ 'defendre) ^i^qSlSi oYleaSty
rLevTte ™Burreune'peu *tnp tendre: He all at once was rendered
cSSwST '«** no^eu amour: Our pattern let him be in fight:
fiobirf iot* noire motile. His love was somewhat too romantic.
SoUais, £c. Let ev ry, &c.
XJ. XI.
<<* jut d'abord officier. His mighty uncle, Charles the Great,
Car il etoit bon gentilhomme; Who Rome's imperial sceptre wielded,
JJ eut un rtgiment enter Both early dignity and state
Z)« son oncle. Empereur de Rome. With high command to Roland yielded.
n fut comte, il fut general, Yet though a Genial, Count, and Peer,
Mats vivant comme a la chambree Roland's kind heart all pnde could smother,
II traitoit de 1rere, et d'egal For each brave man from van to rear
Chaque brave homme dc hrtnte; He treated like a friend and brother.
Soldats, &c. Let ev'ry, &c.
Among the most ancient Songs on the subject of Love which
have been preserved in the French language, are those of the
unfortunate Chatelain de Coucy* whose story is truely tragical. In
a chronicle written about the year 1380, and cited by Fauchet,
we are told that in the time of Philip Augustus and Richard the
First, there was a valorous and accomplished knight in the
Vennandois, six leagues from Noyon, in Picardy, who was extremely
enamoured with the wife of the lord of Fayel, his neighbour. After
many difficulties and sufferings incident to such an attachment, the
lover determined to take the cross and accompany the kings of France
and England to the Holy Land. The lady of Fayel, when she
discovered his intention, wrought for him a beautiful net, with a
mixture of silk and her own hair, which he fastened to his helmet,
and ornamented the tassels with large pearls. The parting of these
lovers was of course extremely tender. On the arrival of Coucy
in Palestine, he performed many gallant and heroic actions, in
hopes that their fame would reach the ears of the beloved object
whom he had left in Europe ; but, unfortunately, at a seige in which
the Christians were repulsed by the Saracens, he received a wound
which was soon pronounced to be mortal, upon which he entreated
his esquire the instant he should be dead, to have his heart embalmed
and carry it to the lady of Fayel, together with the ornament which
she had worked for him, in a little casket with other tokens of her
affection, and a letter full of tenderness written with his own hand
on his deathbed. In this request he was punctually obeyed by his
Mend and esquire ; but unfortunately, on his arrival in France,
when he was hovering about the castle of the lady's residence, in
order to seize the first opportunity that offered of delivering the
casket into her own hands, he was discovered by the lord of Fayel
her husband, who knowing him, and suspecting that he was charged
with dispatches to his wife from fa&Chatelain, whom he hated more
than any other human creature, he fell upon the esquire, and would
* A modem edition of these has been issued by F. Path, Die Lieder der Castellans von
Coucy. (Heidelberg 1883.)
600
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
have instantly put him to death, had he not begged for mercy, and
informed him of the business with which he was entrusted by his
deceased master (o). The enraged husband therefore seizing the
casket, dismissed the affrighted 'squire, and went instantly to his
cook, whom he ordered to dress the embalmed heart it contained,
with such sauce as would make it palatable, and serve it up for
dinner. In this he was obeyed by the cook, who at the same time
prepared a similar dish, in appearance, for his lord's use, of which
he eat, while his lady dined upon the heart of her lover. After
dinner the Seigneur de Fayel asked how she liked the dish of which
she had been eating? On her answering, very well ; " I thought,"
said he, " you would be pleased with it, supposing it to be a viand
of which you were always very fond, and for that reason I had it
dressed." The lady, suspecting nothing, made no reply ; but her
lord continuing the subject, asked her if she knew what she had been
eating? she answered in the negative : " Why then," said he, " for
your greater satisfaction I must inform you that you have eaten
the heart of the Chatelain de Coucy." To be thus reminded of her
friend, made her very uneasy, although she could not believe that her
husband was serious, till he shewed her the casket and letter, which
when she had examined and perused, her countenance changed, and
after a short pause, she said to Fayel, " It is true, indeed, that you
have helped me to a viand which I very much loved ; but it is the
last I shall ever eat," as after that every other food would be insipid."
She then retired to her chamber, and as she never more could be
prevailed on to take any kind of sustenance, fasting and affliction
soon put an end to her days (p).
As love is a stimulus to poetry, this unhappy and romantic
knight, no less distinguished by his misfortunes than talents, has
left behind him some of the most elegant and affecting songs in the
French language, which have been preserved in MSS. that are
near 450 years old, and cited by all cotemporary writers as models
on the subject of love (q) . As the ancient melodies are still subsisting
to some of these, I shall select two of the most pleasing, for the
satisfaction of my musical readers, who probably will find them
equally rude and doleful with the Air of nearly the same antiquity,
which has been already inserted, from Anselm Faydit.
(o) Such was the gallantry of these times, that not only the lady but her husband felt a
kind of disgrace if her beauty was neglected: all married females had their chevaliers, by
common consent of the married men; but, if there was no latent cause of antipathy, the surly
seigneur de Fayel must have had a head differently constructed from his neighbours, for he
could never be prevailed on to regard the Chatelain' s partiality to his lady in the light of
an obligation.
(£) The reader will recollect that this melancholy story has not only been the subject of
several tales, poems, and romances, but has likewise been lately represented with success on
the stage. However, there are persons in France who suspecting the authenticity of the
narration, are inclined to think it was originally fabricated by some Minstrel or Troubadour in
a Romance. An English metrical Romance on the subject of this story, called The Knight of
Courtesy, and the Lady oj Faguel, still subsists. See Warton's Hist, of Poetry, voL I. p. 212.
(g) They have lately been published in the Essai Sur la Mus. Anc. et Mod. to the number
of twenty-three, from an ancient MS. in the possession of the Marquis de Paulmy.
601
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Chanson du Ch&telain de Coucy.
..LENT
iff' " ' • • ** • ••JJLJL; — » • =
QUANT LI RO SI GNOL JO - US CHANTE SEUR LA FLOR 0"
ES.'TE QUE NAIST LA ROSE ET LE LfS ET LA ROUSE
~ + m *+ + » . & — ™ " P — *• — '
. E ET VERT PRE: PLAINS DE BONNE VOlEN TECHAN.TE-R
ii;
CONFINS '• A -MIS MAIS DISSNI SUI ES - BA BIS CUE .
J Al SI
TRES HAUT PEN SE QU A PAINES ERT A
....COMPLIS
SER
..-.WSDONT J-A..-IE
ORE
Chanson du Chdtelain de Coucy.
B
Ee
s^
ROSE
US ET
In
TE'^tHANTE-
RAI
MAIS D'lT^NT
SUI EBA -
^1 i
-HIS QUE
j AJ sr
TWS HAUT PEN -
SE OTA PAINES'
IERT A COM-
EB=
• v •
CREt
^*
602
When the nightingale shall sing
Songs of love from night to morn;
When the rose and lily spring,
And the dew bespangles thorn;
Then should I my voice expand,
Like a lover fond and true,
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
Could I hut its tones command
And the tender strain pursue;
But his love who fears to tell
Notes of, passion ne'er can swell.
Autre Chanson du Chatelain de Coucy.
MOULT M ' EST BELE LA DOUCE COUMEN CAN ... CE
DE NOUVIAU TEMS AL ' EN ....... TRANT DE PASCOR , QUE
, m
i
ET PREZ SONT DE MAIN • TE SBMBLAN CE ViRT ET VER-MEIL COU -
'VovQ&mw^+m —
-VERT D'ERBE ET DE FLOR ET JE SUIS LAS DE CA EN TEL
in
_
BALAN CE QUE MAINS JO'NTES AOR MA BE - LE MOH EN MA
BAU TE RI--CHOR NE SAI LE QUEL S'EN Al JOIEOU PA .--QR? SI
, QE SOUVENT CHANT LA OU DE CUER PLOR CAR LONG
RESPIS
M'ES-MAIE ET M^ES CHE ANCE
Another Song from the Chatelain de Coucy, written and set
about the year 1190.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
p?a tj* 4,
33=5
^
-ME NO JOYS IN -
SPBB TOR' UN-CER.TAINF MY
FAIR. WILL AL
.UOW ME LONG TO
E
JOINING
HANDS.
YR DEATH OR
- But while ~ .
-thus twixt
53E
=e£
\
FEAR
\
OFT .WlTff AQjlNG
SING. FOR EX-
.1ST. ENCE
zt
±i±
:=£=£
5TIU.
res*, AND «..
LAYS FRESH * TBRORS
BBN6
Hal francke riens, fruisqu'en vostre manoie
Me suis tous mis, trop me secords lent;
Car nus dons -n'est cortois qui trop dilate :
Si s'en esmaie icil qui s'i atent.
Uns petiz bien vaut mieuz, se Dex, me vote
Qu'on fait cortoisement,
Que cent greignor fais ennieusement.
Car qui le suen donne retraiamment,
Son gre en pert : & si coste ausiment
Con a celui qui bonement ovtroie.
Ah ! ingenious soul ! too late
Will ere long assistance come;
In your hands is plac'd my fate,
Speedy then pronounce my doom.
Gifts too much our pride alarm
If reluctance interpose.
And destroy the pleasing charm
Which from courteous bounty flows.
Want of value in the boon
Graceful kindness reconciles,
Nought is slight that's granted soon
If it come array'd in smiles.
Those who long their gifts withhold
Have on gratitude no claim;
Be they love, or be they gold
Still they lose their worth and aim.
In the time of Philip de Valois, between the year 1228 and 1250,
the French had more than thirty musical instruments in use, of
which even the form of several is unknown to the present age. ' In
an ancient MS. poem of the King of France's Library (s), a concert
is described, in which all these instruments are named (t).
But nearly as many are represented in the beautiful illuminations
of the splendid copy of the Roman df Alexander in the Bodleian
Library («), where they are placed in the hands of Musicians.
(r) Though the first of the two Songs by Coucy consists of 7 stanzas^ and the second of
Lm^^^^^^A^owed Le for one Jtanza of *• « SW
(s) No. 7612.
Roi^e Nww?^™* *" UAndennete des Chansons, dans le Premier Tome des Poes. du
(<*} No. 264, large folio, on vellum.
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
Among these are the following well known Instrumeuts of modem
times: Flutes, Harps with ten strings, Hautbois, Bassoons,
Trumpets, small Kettle drums carried by a boy and beaten by a
man, Cymbalum, Tambour de Basque, two long speaking
Trumpets, two large Hand-bells, Guitars, Bagpipes of various forms
and size, a Dulcimer in shape, but held against the breast and
thrummed with the fingers, a Vielle, Viols, or Rebecs with three
strings, played with a clumsy bow (x), and Regals, or portable
Organs. The Bodley transcript of this metrical romance was finished
1338, and as it is recorded in letters of gold that che livre fa parfais
de la Enluminiere au XVIII davryl par Jehan de Grise Van de grace
MCCCXLIII it seems as if the illuminator had been six years
employed in painting the embellishments ; in which, besides
grotesque figures and musical instruments in the margin, the
principal incidents of the Poem are represented at the beginning of
each book or canto, where the heads, drapery, buildings, arms, and
military engines are well designed and coloured for so early a period,
and exquisitely finished (y). But this is only a copy of a more
ancient MS. ; for the Romanse, according to Borel (z), was begun in
1140, by Lambert li Cors [Tors] or the Short, and continued by
Alexandra de Bernai (a). It consists of near 20,000 lines.
In the middle of the Poem we have the following Song set to
Music in Gregorian Notes, written upon five red lines, and preceded
by these Alexandrine Verses, in which measure the whole work is
composed :
Des menestreus huchie \ fit li roi grant marte
Tout entour le pays \ adroite avironnee
Cascun aporte trompe \ ou violle attempree
Nacaires (b) et tabors \ de grande renomm&e
Vers la feste sen vont \ chantant de randonnde
Laigle fa devant yeus \ ki bien fa empenee (c).
(*) See plate p. 589.
00 This very beautiful MS. once belonged to the father of the unfortunate earl Rivers,
who was put to death by order of Richard III., 1483, as appears by the following memorandum
written in. an old and difficult hand, on the outside leaf at the end:
Chest livre est a Monseigneur Richart de Wideyille Seigneur de Riyiers, ung des compagnons
de la ires noble Ordre de la Jar Here — et le dit Seigneur achetat le dist livre I' an de grace mills
CCCCXLVI. le premier jour de Van a Londres et le VI. an de la coronetnent de nostre
victoriettx Roy Eduard uart de nom, & le second de la coronamon de nostre virtueuse Royne
Elizabeth.
Cz) Tresor de recherches et Antiquitcz Gauloises et Francoises, Far. 1655.
(a) It is quoted by Lancombe, Diet du vieux Langage, p. 470, as written in 1150.
(6) Nacaires are often mentioned by the old French poets, and nacnare by the Italian.
Du Cange describes na.ca.ra to be a kind of brazen drum used in cavalry, yet Chaucer names
it in the company of military wind instruments:
Pipes, trompes, nakeres, and clariounes
That in the bataffle blowen blody sounes.— Knight's Tale.
(c) Of herald minstrels now a num'rous band
In crowds assemble at the king's command :
Some trumpets bring, with viols others come,
And some with tymbals or the noisy drum.
Singing they approach the feast, with due decorum
And view the rall-plum'd eagle borne before 'em.
fiP5
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Chanson du Roman d'Alexandre.
:*«
2
3>J-SI. VA QUI AMOURS, OEMAJNE A SON COMMANT
A QUI QUE SOIT DOLOURS, EN-SI VA QUI AMOURS.
fob • ^ ^ a [^ #* +m^ M \==
I « T*» » ^ P |W *^^ ^ » to :
AS MAU-VAIS EST LAN-COURS, NOS BIENS MAIS NON PORQUANT.
EN-SI VA OUI AMOURS, DEMAINE A SON COMMANT
The same Melody in Modern Notes.
BLINDLY
HE PROCEEDS,
WHOM LOVE AT
PLEASURE LEADS;
AS ALL WHO
^
a tr r
^
^
•4-
5t
:t
UV5 MUST BEAR,
THE ILLSWCK
MORTALS SHARE,
SO ALL
LOVE WITH ZEAL,
MUST PAIN AND;
'
ANGUISH FEEL
THUS BLINDLY
HE PROCEEDS
WHOM' LOVE AT
g:^z
(<2) After unsuccessfully applying to many learned persons to assist me in construing the
difficult parts of this Song, I had ventured to guess at its meaning before I was favoured with
an answer to a request which I had made to a friend at Paris, begging he would consult the
copy of the Roman d'AJexandre in the Bible du Roi [No. 7190] in order to discover whether
something had not been omitted or erroneously transcribed in the Bodley MS. which there was
great reason to suspect. But though I received information that the Song could not be found
in the MS. of the Royal Library at Paris, yet I shall insert here the account of this copy of
the celebrated Roman d'Alexandre which accompanied the information, as it will doubtless
afford satisfaction to curious enquirers concerning the ancient literature of France. — "The
Roman d'Alexandre is divided into three separate parts, and was written by three different
authors. Each of these parts has a particular title : the first is called Le Roman d'Alexandre;
the second, La Vengeance d'Alexandre; and the third La Mort d'Alexandre.
" There is still in the same folio volume which contains these three MSS. another work
upon the death of Alexander, which is entitled Les Vaeus du Pan, or the Peacock's
Predictions."
The following translation of the Songs as it stands in the Bodley copy has been procured
from the learned M. Bejau, keeper of the MSS. in the Royal Library at Paris, which I am
happy in presenting to my readers :
Ensi va qui amours \\ Demaine a ton commant
Ainsi va 1'amour n domine a son gre.
A qui que soft dolours \\ Ensi va qui amours
II attriste qui que ce soit, Ainsi va Tamonr
A3 mauvais est langours U Nos biens mats non p or quant.
Ah la lengueur est funeste, Mais notre bonheur ne depend pas de nous.
606
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
The verses of this song are Alexandrine, or of twelve syllables,
like the narrative part of the Poem, with this difference, that one
of them is likewise Leonine, hi which the end rhymes to the middle :
Ensi va qui amours demaine a son commant.
A qui que soit dolours, ensi va qui amours,
As mauvais et langours, nos biens mais non porquant,
Ensi va qui amours demaine a son commant.
This same Refrain or burden appears in another Song which
is inserted in an ancient Fabliau or tale among a large collection
of poems of the thirteenth century in the king of France's
library (e). It is difficult now to discover which was written first,
but the occasion of the song in the Fabliau is so curious that I
shall present the reader with a sketch of the whole narrative in
which it is introduced. The title of this Fabliau is Le Lay
d'Aristote, in which it is related that Alexander the Great, after
his conquest of India, forgetting the glory he had already acquired,
and his plans of future conquests, shut himself up continually with
a beautiful female, of whom he was violently enamoured. His
officers murmured at the absence of the young hero, without daring
to reproach him; but his tutor Aristotle, hearing of the discontents
in the army, was less ceremonious, and upbraided him with the
impropriety of his conduct. Alexander feeling the force of the
philosopher's remonstrances, without loving his mistress the less,
for some time discontinued his visits: however being at length
unable to repress his passion any longer he returned; and, amidst
the tears, caresses, and reproaches with which he was received by
the beautiful object of his affection, confessed, in order to exculpate
himself, that his absence had been occasioned by the murmurs of
his officers, and the censures of his master Aristotle. The lady
instantly resolving to be revenged upon the philosopher, made
Alexander promise to be at his window early the next morning.
At break of day she went into the garden of the palace; her
deshabille is elegantly described; the Song, which she sings in a
voice soft as a lute, is inserted in the tale, and is simple and pretty.
Upon her arrival under the window of Aristotle, he shuts his
books, and, in spite of his wisdom and reflection, finds himself
unable to resist the desire of approaching her: the seducing
blandishments and coquetry of the fair are as well described as the
awkward advances of the philosopher. At length, she complains
to him of the ill offices which had been practised, in order to
alienate from her the affections of Alexander. Aristotle boasts of
the influence he has with the prince, and promises to exercise it
in her favour, upon condition that she will first lend a favourable
ear to the passion which he has conceived for her himself; but she
teUs him that nothing will convince her of his sincerity, but his
going upon all-fours, and carrying her on his back through the
(e) No. 7218. It was first printed among the Fabliaux des Poctes Francois des xii, xiii,
et xiv. Siecles, torn. I. p. 173. Par 1766, and has since appeared among the Fabliaux,
published in 1799. torn. I. p. 197.
607
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
garden: even to this he consents; yet still, that sHe may ride more
at her ease, she insists upon his fetching a saddle; she then mounts
and laughing, sings:
Ainsi va qui amors main, &c.
which is precisely the burden of the song that has just been given
from the Roman d'Alexandre.
When the young monarch had been sufficiently amused by the
Equestrian figure his master had made, he descends into the garden,
says the fabulist, and asks him if he had lost his senses, and
forgotten all his fine precepts in favour of continence? Aristotle
lifts up his eyes, and, with the utmost shame and confusion,
confesses that he was mistaken—" I reproached your majesty
(says he) with that intemperance in youth, from which my old age
has not been able to protect me."
It was a common practice with the old French poets to make a
particular line of an old song the Refrain, or burden, of a new;
but whether that of the song in the Roman d'Alexandre alludes
to the transaction related in the Fabliau, or whether the song in
the Fabliau was an imitation of that in the Roman, I am unable to
determine. These two songs will at least illustrate each other, and
the resemblance seems too great to have been produced by accident.
The songs of THIBAUT, king of Navarre, are by some placed
at the head of those that have been preserved in the French
language, as those of Guillaume IX. duke of Aquitain, are in that
of Provenge. There were, indeed, songs written in both languages,
before these princes had done poetry the honour to make it their
favourite amusement; but the chief part of those of higher
antiquity than the time of these patriarchs of Provengal and
French versification, are either lost, or thought of little value.
And as the paraphrases on the Epistles, which have been
inserted above, are the most ancient Sacred Songs now subsisting
in a vulgar tongue, to which the original music has been preserved;
so the Provencal and French melodies, of which a specimen has
already been given, are the most ancient that I have been able to
find to Secular Songs. Of nearly equal antiquity, however, axe the
lyric compositions of Thibaut, count of Champagne, and king of
Navarre.
This prince was born in 1201, and died 1254. He was
cotemporary with Philip Augustus, and Lewis the Eighth and
Ninth, which last prince he accompanied to the Holy War. It
has been said by several historians, that he was much captivated by
the charms of queen Blanche of Castile, mother of St. Lewis, to
whom many of his songs were addressed; but this point of history
has been disputed with great zeal by M. 1'Eveque de la Ravaliere,
the editor of Thibaut' s Poems, which he published in 1742, with
notes, and a history of the revolutions in the French language,
from the time of Charlemagne to that of St. Lewis, together with
608
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
an Essay on the Antiquity of French Songs. This learned prelate
has defended the honour of queen Blanche with his pen, five
hundred years after her decease, with as much prowess and true
chivalry as the most valiant champion of injured innocence could
have done with his sword and lance, had he been animated by the
presence of that princess, and the heroism of the times in which
she lived.
I shall present the reader with two specimens of the king of
Navarre's poetry and music; for it was not sufficient for the Bards
of his time to compose good verses; they were expected to set them
to music themselves, if they were to be sung; and it appears from
the lives of the Troubadours, by Nostradamus, that most of the
Provengal poets were practical musicians, and set their own songs.
It was said of William, Count of Poitou, qu'il sut bien trouver &
bien Chanter: that is, could sing or set verses to music as well as
write them; and in the character of Bernard de Ventadour, a
Provengal poet of the twelfth century, he is called Le Chanteur.
II etoit courtois 6- bien appris, says his historian, et savoit Composer
et Chanter. Rambaud de Vaqueiras, one of the best poets in the
Provengal language, also speaks of the sons, or tunes, which he had
made for his mistress, as well as words.
Les grandes Chroniques de France tells us, that Thibaut at the
age of thirty-five, having conceived a violent and hopeless passion
for queen Blanche, was advised by wise and prudent counsellors to
apply himself to music and poetiy, which he did with such success
that he produced " the most beautiful Songs and Melodies that
have ever been heard;" (/) and as it is the opinion of the French
antiquaries and critics, that the tunes which have been preserved
in the most ancient MSS. of the songs of this prince are those which
were originally set to them by himself, they are the more curious
and valuable, not only as being the productions of so great a
personage, but as genuine remains of the state of melody in France
at so early a period. And, indeed, when they are written in
modern characters, accompanied by a base, and the measure is
regulated by bars, they remind us of many French airs of the
present century, and shew that vocal melody has remained nearly
stationary in France, ever since the beginning of the thirteenth
centuiy. The words of the first song being serious, the tune may
serve as a specimen of the airs tendres of that period.
I shall first give an exact fac-simile of this air from the Vatican
copy among the queen of Sweden's manuscripts, (g) to the original
words; and then a free translation adapted to the original
melody, written in modern characters.
(/) I shall give the passage in the original, from Fauchet— Et pou ce que profondes pensees
ingendrent melancolies, il luy fut dit d'aucuns sages hommes, qu'l s'estudiast ett beaux sans, et
doux chants d' instruments : & si fit-il. Car il fit les plus belles Chansons, et les plus delectables
et Melodicuses, qui onques fussent oyes en Chansons ne en Instruments. Des Anciens Pofites
Francois, fol. 565.
(g) No. 59.
Voi,. i. 39 £°9
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
£r
KT s* « . — P/#,
Song from Thibaut King of Navarre, adapted to his original
Melody.
II /I * f
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ffa — _^.
F
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I THOUGHT I'D
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VANQUISH'D
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MIGHTY LOVE. BUT
.
RN6 MY- SELF D!
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SCHS. TEARS..CQMPLA1NT5, ENCREASE
(h) A very incorrect copy, both of the words and music of this Song, has been printed
by Crescimbeni, Comment d'la Volg. Pocsia, torn. I. p. 283; where, besides wrong notes, there
has been such little attention paid to the Alices, or characters with double tails, which .in this
melody are manifestly signs of augmentation, that it requires great critical sagacity in a
musical reader to regulate the measure. I have corrected the words by M. de la Valiere's
copy (Poesies du Ren de Navarre, torn. II. p. 57) which seems more exact than that which I
had procured in the Vatican.
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
Nus ne doit amors trair,
Fors ke gargons et ribaut,
Si ce n'est pour son plaisir,
Je ne vois ni bos, ni haut,
Ains veuil, quel me tvv.it bault,
Sans guttler, et sans meniir;
Mais si je puis consievir
Le cherf, qui tant set. fuir,
Nus n'est joyeux, com Thiebauz.
II.
The libertine alone betrays
The kind and constant heart,
But I would die ten thousand ways
Ere pain to her impart.
No thought my throbbing breast can cheer
But her in bliss to see:
Yet in her coy and wild career
Could I but catch this flying deer
How happy then would Theobald be !
Li cherf est avantureux,
Car il est plus blanc que nois,
Et si a les crins ans deux,
Plus biaux, que ors espenois;
Li cherf est en un desfois,
A Ventrer molt Perilleux,
Car il est garde de leus,
Ce sont felons envieu,
Qui trap heent les cortois
III.
This lovely deer, more white than snow,
With "locks like burnish'd gold
shoulders
Which o'er her polish'd
Courageous is, and bold.
In peril oft she stands at bay,
Where wolves with cunning fraught
Are on the watch by night and day
To seize the courteous as their prey
Who set their wicked wiles at naught.
flow.
IV.
Fins '. chevaliers angoisseuxf .
Qui a perdu son harnois,
Ne vielle, cui art li feu,
Ma.ison, vigne, et bU et pois,
Ne kachiere, qui prent sois,
Ne moigne luxurieux,
N'est envers moi angoisseux,
Que je ne sole de ceus,
Qui aiment de sur leur pois.
IV.
A brave accomplished knight o'ercpme
And stript of arms and fame,
While barn and vineyard, house and home
Are food for fire and flame;
Than me less torture feels and pain
While rigour thus I prove,
For never did I yet attain
The gift seraphic of a swa.in
Who could without a premium love.
V.
Dame une ri?.ns vos detnant,
Cuidies vos, ke ne soit pechies
D'occire son vrai amanfi
Oil voir; bien le sachies,
Si vous plait, si m'ochies;
Car je le veuil et creant,
Et se mieus m'amds vivajit,
Se le vos dis en oiant,
Molt en seroie plus lies.
V.
The slightest, smallest boon to share
Is all I humbly crave,
To drive away the fiend Despair
And snatch me from the grave.
And is it then no crime to wound
A faithful lover's heart?
To hear his sad complaints resound,
Then dash him to the abyss profound,
Nor at his cruel suff 'rings start?
VI. VI.
Dame, ou nule ne se prent, Pronounce, my fair, a milder doom
Mais ke vos voillies itant. Before you've kill'd me quite,
*S"«38?*l£r For pity to. ttoo late will. come
* When plung'd in endless night.
A little love while yet I live
Is worth a world in grave,
And 'tis ceconomy to give
When by a trivial donative
A heavy future charge we save.
The last stanza, which is not entire in the original, has been
amplified in the English, to supply a sufficient number of lines,
for the melody.
At the end of all the Songs by the King of Navarre, and by
almost all the poets of nearly the same period, there is an imperfect
stanza, which is called the Envoi* or address to some particular
person, for whom probably it was written. To what part of the
tune the Envoi was sung, or if sung at all, I have not been able
to discover.
611
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The following Song being written upon a more gay subject than
the preceding, the tune, which is simple and pleasing, seems of the
same cast as many modern light French airs in gavot time, called
Vaudevilles. I shall first give it in the square Gregorian notes, as
it stands in all the ancient MSS. and in M. de la Valiere's copy,
where neither the flats, sharps, or bars have been marked, but all
are left to the penetration and sagacity of the performer. In
France, tradition may still have preserved these Melodies in the
memory of many of the natives; but elsewhere, the following copy,
unless explained, would be but of small use.
The royal Troubadour, in that spirit of chivalry and gallantry
which seemed to govern mankind during his reign, sets out, Un
beau Matin, in quest of adventures, and relates his success in the
following Song.*
Chanson du Roi de Navarre.
45-
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BELLE, DIEUX VOUS D01NT BON JOR.
*«> K? 7° ^& Barnes of about 460 Troubadours and 200 Trouvfcres and poems
are extant by most ot these. Unfortunately the number of melodies which exist is
comparatively small. The words of over 2,500 Troubadour songs are known, but only about
260 melodies exist. Of Trouvere songs, the words of over 2,ooTare known, and
^ S%£±-£5 In a ^ ^
bat Unf°rtu^ — of " in French
P SS* Le?*n«nti.W*rte **r Troubadours (2nd ed. by Barisch. Ltifitig j882).
P. Meyer Les Dernzers Troubadours de la Provence (Paris 1871).
J. Anglade. Anthologie des Troubadours (Texts] (Paris 1926)
y' f-tsChansom de Guillaume IX. (H. Champion/ Paris).
TWs b-k is a good general
J.
C. Appel; A. Jeanroy;
For information on MSS. and editions see-
612
THE STATE OP MUSIC TO 1450
Translation, totidem Syllabis.
'
[EARLY STROLLING
* * *• 1 — *—
AT MY LEISURE
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TWIXTAN ORCHARD
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'AND A GROVE;.
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J 'FOR'HER'!PLEASURE,
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SWEETLY '-SUNG THE
PAINS OF LOVE. '
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THUS BEGAN HER
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MADE OF MAffiU,
WHEN J'qood day
sweet
J hwrt" 1 SAID.
^
Mon salu sans demoree
Me rendi, & sans targier.
Molt iert frees ei colwree
Se mi plot a acointier;
Bele, vostre amor vous quier,
S'aures de moi riche ator
Elle repend, Trecheor
Sont mais trop li chevalier;
Miex aim Perrin mon bergier
Ke riche horn menteor.
She return'd my salutation
With a look so fresh and pure,
I'd have risqu'd my soul's salvation
Her affection to secure.
If you love me, strait, I said,
Fine as queen you should be made.
"Knights (she said) are full of art:
First they win a girl, then cheat her—
Sooner I wou'd wed with Peter
Than a lord that's false of heart."
Bele, ce ne dites mie,
Chevallier sont trop vaillant:
Qui set done avoir amie
Ne servir a son talant,
Fors chevaliers, & tel gent?
Mais I' amors d'un bergeron,
CerteSt ne vaut un baton.
Paries vous done en itant,
Et m'ames; je vous creant,
De moi aures riche don.
Sire, par Sainte Marie,
Vous en parks por noiant,
Mainte dame, auront trichie,
Cil chevalier sosduiant,
Trop sont jol <§• mal pensant,
Pis valent, que Guenelon; (0
Je m'en vais en ma maison,
Ke Perrin est ki m'atent,
M'aime de cuer kiaument;
Abaisies votre raison.
Much, my dear, you are mistaken;
Gentlemen alone can love;
Honour, ne'er by them forsaken,
All deceit must disapprove.
Learn a stupid clown to slight,
Who your worth can ne'er requite;
Him to vulgar charms consign;
If, my life, you will endeavour
To love me as well, you ever
Shall he happy, rich, and fine.
By Saint Mary, Sir, you are losing
All the pains you take to ensnare;
Words so soft and so amusing
Must have ruin'd many a fair;
But the fame is spread abroad
Of the tricks, deceit, and fraud,
Practis'd by each gilded beau;
If your words were ten times sweeter,
Still I would be true to Peter;
Therefore, pray Sir, let me go.
(0 An archbishop of Sens, in the time of Charles the Bald, of so treacherous and
infamous a character, that his name became proverbial.
613
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
J'entendi bien la bergiere, Here she shew'd disapprobation,
Kele me veut eschaper; And a wish to get away,
Molt li jis longe Proiere, Nor had pray'r or supplication
Mais ni puce rien conguester: Power to prolong her stay.
Lors la pris a acoler, Then, embolden'd by despair,
Et ele giete un grant cri\ In my arms I seize the fair;
Perrinet, trai, traif When with terror and affright,
Dou bois prevent a huer, Loud she roars for help, on Peter,
Je la lais, sans demourer As if bear began to eat her
Sor mon cheval m'en parti. With a furious appetite.
Quant ele m'en vit alerf Peter, to the cries she utters,
Si mi dist, pour ramposnerf Answers in the neigh bring grove;
Chevaliers sont trop hardi. (fc) Numerous threats of vengeance mutters.
Furious to relieve his love:
Hearing this, I thought it best
Instant to give up the jest;
Swift I mount my palfry— when,
Seeing I through fear was flying,
Loudly she continued crying—
"Fie on all such gentlemen ! "
The specimens hitherto given of music in France have been
confined to mere melody, without base or additional parts, in,
harmony, as there are no remains of written discant, or counter-
point, applied to the melody of songs, earlier than the fourteenth
century. There are, however, compositions of that period still
subsisting, which prove that music in parts had been cultivated
there, and the rules of harmony settled by nearly the same laws
as those by which it is at present governed.
The late abb6 Lebeuf , in the year 1746, gave a very ample and
satisfactory account to the Academy of Inscriptions at Paris, of
two volumes of French and Latin poems, preserved in the library
of the Carmelites of that city, " with a description of the kind
of music to which some of these poems were set."
In 1747, the count de Caylus having found in the king of
France's library, No. 7609 — 2, a duplicate of these poems, gave
likewise an account of them to the same Academy, in two memoirs.
The author, Guillaume de Machau, is styled by the count,
poet and musician; and both these excellent critics agree that he
flourished about the middle of the fourteenth century, and died in
1370 [1377]. Among the poems which are written upon various
subjects, there is an infinite number of Lais, Virelais, Ballads, and
Rondeaux, chiefly in old French, with a few in Latin, and set to
music: some for a single voice, and others in four parts, Triplum,
Tenor, Contratenor, and a fourth part, without a name. In these
full pieces, as the words are placed only under the tenor part, it is
natural to conclude that this was the principal melody. In the
music, which is written with great care and neatness, notes in a
lozenge form, with tails to them, frequently occur; these, whether
the heads were full or open, were at first called Minims] but when
a still quicker note was thought necessary, the white or open notes
Q^ of ** preceding «»* has beea
614
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
only had that title, and the black were by the French called Noir,
and by the English, Crotchets; a name given by the French, with
more propriety, from the hook or curvature of the tail, to the still
more rapid note, which we call a Quaver.
The Latin poems are chiefly motets, and for a single voice^:
some of which are written in black and red notes, ^ with this
instruction to the singers: nigra sunt perfects, & rubr& imperfects.
An admonition worth remembering by those who wish to decipher
music of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, in which red^notes
frequently occur. It was an easy expedient of diminution, till the
invention of printing, when the use of ink of different colours, on
the same page, occasioned the expence and trouble of double
printing. The abb6 Lebeuf observes, that the dissection and
accelerated motion of notes, during these ages, gave great offence
and scandal to pious and sober Christians. In a Kyrie Eleison to
the Gregorian chant, which is called Tenor, the three parts that are
added to it are called Triplum, Motetus, and Contratenor. In the
second volume of these poems the common chants of the whole
mass,* and even the Credo, are written in four parts (2). There
are many French ballads and Rondeaux in three parts: Tenor,
Triplum, and Contratenor.
The fourteenth century seems the sera when music in parts,
moving in different melodies, came first into general favour; for
of the preceding age no music can be found of more than two parts
in strict counterpoint of note against note.
. Machau calls his collection of Songs set to music, Remedes de
Fortune, regarding music as a specific, or at least an opiate, against
the ills of life. In the illuminations to these lyric compositions,
an assembly of minstrels is represented, with thirty or forty musical
instruments, of which he gives the names. His poem called Le dii
de la Harpe, which has been already mentioned, is a moral and
allegorical piece, in the style of the famous Roman de la Rose, by
Guiflaume de Lorris, and Jean de Meun.
Neither the Abbe Lebeuf, nor the Count de Caylus, have
produced specimens of Machau's musical compositions; indeed,
the Count frankly confesses, that, though he has studied them
with the utmost attention, and consulted the most learned musicians,
he has been utterly unable to satisfy his curiosity concerning their
intrinsic worth. A correspondent at Paris had promised me
transcripts of some of these pieces, which however are not yet
arrived; and the confession of M. de Caylus renders my disappoint-
(Z) This mass is supposed to have been sung at the coronation of Charles V. king of
France, 1364.
* This is the second oldest setting of the mass which has come down to us.
Some of Machaut's works have been issued in modern notation by J. Wolf; Geschicte der
Mensural-Notation. Vol. iii. (The original notation is given in Vol. ii.)
Barbara Smythe, Earliest Polyphonic Music (Blackfriars, Vol. ii. 1921).
Some of his songs are supplied with independent instrumental parts, and he is probably the
first composer to have done this.
615
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
ment mortifying; as I could hardly hope to succeed in solving
enigmas which have already defeated superior sagacity (m).
However, sufficient exercise for patience and musical acuteness
may be found nearer home; for in the British Museum, the Pepysian
Collection, Magd. Coll. Camb., and in the Music School at Oxford,
there are copies of music, in parts, of the fourteenth, fifteenth
and beginning of the sixteenth centuries, which have long since
been thought utterly unintelligible to the generality of musicians.
In the Museum (n), there are fragments of three musical
treatises (o), in the second of these, which must have been written
about the latter end of the fourteenth century, minims appear; and
at the end there is an old French song in two parts, of which, both
the words and music are difficult to read. Few of the words
indeed have been written, and those are very much obliterated.
All that I can discover is that they allude to one of the allegorical
characters in the Roman de la Rose, the principal personages in
which are Jalousie, Bel Accueil, Faux Semblant, &c. (p). But the
ligatures and want of bars render the music still more difficult to
decipher. I shall save the reader however all the trouble I am
able, by inserting the notes, such as I conjecture them to be, in
modern characters, and dividing the measure by bars.
The words, contrary to the usual practice
of ancient times, are not put under the
tenor part, which in this Song does not
form the principal melody.
Tenor de Faus semblant.
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(m) Indeed it was natural to expect assistance in this particular from the author of Essai
sur la Musique Andenne el Modern?; but though he has inserted a dry and petulant critique,
by a friend, upon the narrative which the Count de Caylus and the Abbe" le Beuf have given
of this old French poet-musician, no specimens either of his melodies or Counterpoint are
inserted in that voluminous work: which seems so particularly intended to blazon the talents
of French composers, that not a single specimen of music in parts by those of any other
country has had admission, except the celebrated canon of Non nobis Domine by our William
Bird; which, by being inserted among French canons, without the author's name may perhaps
pass in the crowd for the production of a native of France.
(n) Bibl. Reg. 12. c. vi. 5.
(o) Tractatus tfusici 3. Liber quondam Monachorunt S. Edmundi.
(j>) Maitre Guillaume de Lorris, author of the first part of Le Roman de la Rose,
nourished about 1260; and Jean Clopinel dit de Meun, continued it forty years after the death
of Guillaume, during the reign of Philip le Bel, about the year 1300. It was more than fifty
years after this period that our Chaucer made an English poem of it Of this moral, satirical
and allegorical fable, which has been
editions, of the fifteenth and sixteenth
Palace, one of which is in prose.
$16
[uentiy printed in the original, there are four
' ' i, in his Majesty's Library at the Queen's
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
d J
TODS
There is some faint attempt at Air in this Tune, and we admire
a little Melody in these early productions, as we do of first dawnings
of reason in an infant. Of the Harmony, or Base, I can^say but
little; as when the MS. was unintelligible and conjecture failed me,
I supplied deficiencies by modern rules of composition.
As our chief enquiry in this chapter is after the first Melodies
that were set to modern languages, and we have endeavoured to
gratify the reader's curiosity concerning those of Provence and the
northern parts of France, we shall now proceed to give some account
of the state of Vocal Music in Italy at this early period,
during the formation of its language.
From the intimate connexion and close union of the arts, it is
hardly possible to trace the progress of music in ITALY without
speaking of its language; which has long been universally allowed
to be more favourable to singing than any one that the numerous
combinations of letters in all the alphabets of modern times has
produced. And if the French, Provengal, and Spanish dialects
can be deduced from the Latin, how much more easy is it to trace
the Italian from that source; which is itself frequently so near pure
and classical Latin, that no other change or arrangement of words
seems to have been made, than what contributed to its sweetness
and facility of utterance? (q).
That the Italian tongue is derived from the vulgar language of
the ancient Romans, seems the opinion of the best critics; but to
discover and point out by what degrees it was smoothed and polished
to the state in which Dante, Petrarca, and Boccaccio found it in
the fourteenth century, would require more time, and occupy more
space in this chapter than the subject seems necessarily to require.
However, as the Italian language has been truly called by Metastasio
Musica Stessa, and is so favourable to vocal purposes as to be more
musical in itself, when merely spoken with purity, than any other
in Europe, an enquiry into the causes of its mellifluence and natural
melody does not seem foreign to a history of that art, which has
been brought to such perfection by the natives of Italy, that their
refinements are adopted and rendered the criterion of grace and
elegance in every other country where music is cultivated.
(q) Howel however observes that he can make a sentence that shall be at once Spanish
and Latin, but that he could never do the same with Italian.
617
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Muratori (?) has given innumerable passages from authors, of
the eighth and ninth centuries, to prove, that after the Franks and
Germans were settled in Italy, articles were used in the Latin
language, instead of pronouns and changes of termination, in order
to save the trouble of inflecting the cases in nouns; but pretends not
to say what this vulgar language was, or whether the clergy preached
to the common people, or merchants carried on their correspondence
in Latin or Italian.
The learned Maffei (s) allows the Provencal, French, Spanish,
and Italian languages to be descendants from the Latin, but denies
that the ancient inhabitants of Italy adopted any words from the
Goths or Huns who invaded them. The genius of the German,
Francic, or Teutonic language, which was spoken by the Lombards,
was so diametrically opposite to that of the Italians, that it seems
incredible there should have been any exchange or union of dialects
between them: the one being as remarkable for its numerous
consonants and harsh terminations, as the other for its open vowels
and mellifluous endings. As it is the opinion of this profound critic
that the Romans had always a vulgar dialect, less grammatical and
elegant than that of the senate and of books, he supposes the
French, Spanish, and Italian languages to have been different
modifications of this rustic plebeian dialect. But it is as difficult
to assign a reason for all these daughters of one common mother
being so dissimilar, as it is to account for the little resemblance that
is frequently found between other children of the same parents.
And why the French language should have so many nazal endings;
the Spanish so many sibillating, and the Italian alone have none
but vocal terminations can only have been occasioned by some
particular and radical tendency in the vulgar and plebeian
language of each country, from very high antiquity.
The Romans had two words for most purposes, the one elegant
and used by writers and persons of education, and the other vulgar
and common. The word caput, for instance, was an elevated
expression for the head, and testa, used by Ausonius, an ignoble
expression for the same thing. Os, the mouth, according to
Plautus and Juvenal, was called bucca by the common people;
whence the word bocca in Italian. Equus, a horse, according
to Horace and Perseus, was called caballus and caballinus by the
plebeians, which the Italians have softened into cavallo. The
learned author has collected a great number of proofs in confirma-
tion of his opinion that the Romans had at all times two languages;
the one elegant, grammatical, and used by the patricians and the
learned; and the other mean, vulgar, inaccurate, and used only
by the plebeians. That this vulgar language was more the parent
of the Provengal, French, Spanish, and Italian languages than pure
Latin, appears by the examples he has furnished; but the Italian
was not only derived from the trivial and vulgar words in the Latin
language, but from grammatical solecisms and popular inaccuracies
(r) Dissert 32. (s) Verona Must. torn. I. lib. xL
618
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
of pronunciation. It is not to be imagined that the common people
of Rome at any period spoke such correct and elegant language
as their best authors have left us in their writings. Ever eager to
convey their meaning, and to arrive at the true ead of speech by
the shortest road, they hate the trouble of polysyllables, and have
a natural propensity to abbreviate them. Of this the Marquis
Maffei has likewise furnished innumerable examples in the Latin
tongue of very high antiquity. As sis for si vis; ain for aisne;
sire nipse for similis re ipsa; and cauneas for cave ne eas (t). But
elisions of consonants were still more frequent: as per hoc was
softened into pero, sic into si; and by the omission of the m final
in the accusative case singular of nouns, as amore for amorem,
fama for famam, &c., innumerable words in the Latin language
insensibly became Italian; and as it was impossible for the common
people, ignorant of grammar, to know all the necessary inflexions
of nouns, it was natural for them to take greater liberties with the
accusative and ablative cases than any other, and it is from these
two cases that the genius of the Italian language is chiefly derived.
The learned marquis goes through all the cases of nouns and
tenses of verbs; shews the formation of adverbs, and the mutation
of letters, in order to remove harshness and facilitate utterance.
And it appears that the Roman soldiers and common people totally
lost the terminations um, ur, and us, which rendered the article
necessary to distinguish cases, numbers, and persons, as well as
auxiliary verbs to facilitate the conjugations of other verbs. It
was the opinion of Muratori, that these changes and corruptions
were occasioned by the Barbarians who invaded Italy; but both
Maffei and Severino have proved that the Romans had introduced
them long before the Goths, Franks, or Vandals had invaded them.
This language continued long to partake of its barbarous origin,
remaining rude, unformed, and without rules, as long as the use
of Latin was preserved in courts of justice, public acts, and polite
conversation; and it was not till the twelfth century that the Muses
honoured the vulgar language of Italy so far as to admit it into
their concerts.
The superiority of the Tuscan dialect over all the others of
Italy is ascribed by Gravina (u) to the ancient democratic form of
government at Florence, which, before the Medici family had
usurped the sovereignty, furnished the citizens with frequent
opportunities of speaking in public, and encouragement for
polishing their language " in order to bring the people over to their
opinions, by the sweetness of their eloquence (#)."
That every language of a learned and commercial people is
greatly changed in the course of a few centuries, is well known.
(t) Cic. Divin. lib. ii. («) Delia Ragion Poet.
(x) Of the great number of provincial dialects in Italy an idea may be formed from
Quadrio's account of them, vol. i. p. 207, where it appears that books have been written and
translations made, many of which have been printed, in Bergamasca, Bolognese, Calabrese,
Fiorentina rustica di Contado, Friulana, Genovese, Milanese, Modanesc, Napolitana, Padovana,
Penigina, Romaneses Sanese, Siciliana, and Veneziana. In all these, and more, the Rev. Mr.
Crofts, in his valuable collection of uncommon books, is in possession of printed specimens.
6x9
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Horace complains of the want of permanence in that of the Romans;
Quintilian tells us that in his time scarce any of the ancient language
was left; and in the time of Justinian, new inflections and modes
of speech, neglect of syntax, abbreviations, an.d vulgar barbarisms,
were leading to a new language. But like the provincial dialects
of most countries this language was many ages merely colloquial,
and never admitted into books.
It was the custom for the learned to write their familiar letters
in Latin, even to women, so late as the time of Petrarca, when it
was still customary to preach in that language; but preaching was
then less frequent than at present. Even so late as the year 1500
the bishops and dignified clergy, after preaching in Latin to a select
congregation of well educated persons, had their sermons repeated
the next day to the common people by the friars in the vulgar
tongue. The sermons of these early periods by St. Francis, St.
Anthony of Padua, Bernardino da Siena, and many others that
have been preserved, are all in Latin. But it is a curious circum-
stance that after this period many sermons are found in half Latin
and half Italian; for the preachers, accommodating themselves by
degrees to the vulgar, avoided the trouble of a regular translation,
by interlining the Latin with fragments of Italian (y). But this
is still less extraordinary than the barbarism of our English
sermons, which not many years ago were_ almost half Latin. An
Italian congregation, from the affinity of the two languages, was
likely to understand a considerable part of what was uttered in
Latin, which was not the case with the English. The sermons of the
famous Jeremy Taylor, in the time of Charles the First, are
crowded with Greek in every page.
When Dante wrote his Vita Nuova, in the beginning of the
fourteenth century, he said that the Italian language had not
subsisted more than one hundred and fifty years ; and that it was at
first used by some poet for the sake of his mistress, by whom the
verses addressed to her in Latin began to be understood with great
difficulty (z).
And Muratori (a) furnishes a specimen of Italian Rhymes from
the Mosaic in the Cathedral of Ferrara, so early as 1135.
II mile cento trempta cinque nato
Fo questo tempio a Zorzi consecrate,
Fo Nicolao Scolptore,
E Glielmo fo I'Autore.
Corticelli in his Eloquenza Toscana asserts that " in Italy Lyric
Verses preceded all other poetry ; and so general is the love for this
species of versification, that there is no nation, however barbarous,
without it." And this author imagined that Lyric Poetry had its
(y) Sorgtmento d'lialia, datt' Abate Saverio Bettinelli, torn. II. p. 15.
; (z) n $rimo eke commincio a dire come Poeta volgare, si wosse, perocche voile fare
mtenderele sue parole a donna, alia quale era malagevole ad intendere f versi Latini. Dclle
Opere di Dante, vol. v. p. 57. Ediz. cfi Ven. 1741.
(a) Dissert 32.
620
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
rise in Tuscany about the year 1 184 (6), upon the following occasion :
the emperor Frederic Barbarossa being hunting in Mugello, a
delightful country of Tuscany, and a stag passing precipitately by
him, Ubaldino Ubaldini, a valiant Florentine knight, seized him by
the horns and held him while the emperor slew him ; for which
bold and dexterous service the emperor gave him the stag's head,
with a permission to assume it in his family arms. _ Ubaldino
composed an inscription to commemorate this event, which is still to
be seen engraved on marble at Florence, and though written like
prose, it consists of short verses, in rhyme, with a mixture of Latin
words ; and is supposed to have been the first attempt at Lyric Poetry
in Tuscany, but he believes that the first songs in modern languages
were written in Sicily: whence the art passed into Provence among
the Troubadours, of whom the Italians learned it about the
thirteenth century (c).
Few other vestiges of poetry are to be found before the year 1200.
Rhymes written upon the subject of Love by the emperor Frederic
the Second, who was bom in 1194, are among the most ancient that
have been preserved (d).
Though the French began to write in their own dialect much
sooner than the Italians, yet their language was brought to no
perfection before the last century ; but the writings of the Italians,
of the fourteenth century, are still regarded as models of perfection,
with respect to diction, and construction.
According to Crescimbeni, the Italian written language was not
wholly formed till the thirteenth century, though it was colloquially
used much earlier. Many verses and memorials still remain of the
Italian tongue during this period. But the Sicilians, says the same
writer, were the first who committed to paper verses in Italian, whose
success excited other poets in Italy, especially the Tuscans, to imitate
them ; and Petrarca was in doubt whether the Sicilians imitated the
Provengals, or the Provengals the Sicilians in their poetical
compositions. But as both these countries were long under the
same sovereigns, the inhabitants would naturally cultivate and
encourage the same arts and language (e). If the Sicilians were
the first poets in the vulgar tongue, they were at least very negligent
in preserving sufficient examples of their ancient poetry to ascertain
its title to priority. Indeed Muratori (/) says that the most ancient
Sonnets in the Italian language were written by the Sicilians ; but
he neither gives specimens, nor names the authors of them.
(6) Crescembeni fixes it at the same period. Pref. alia Stor. della Volg. Poesia.
(c) Crescembeni has inserted this early essay of Italian Versification in the first volume
of his Comment. Intorno all' 1st. della Volg. Poes. lib. i. p. 12.
(d) Ib. torn. III. lib. i.
(e) The Counts of Barcelona were Sovereigns of Provence from 1102 to 1245, from which
time it was possessed by the Kings of Sicily, till 1480. This accounts for the Spanish words
1 ich frequently occur in the Provencal language, as — " ~ *— A * 1 * J- -'
t dialect to be found in the Italian tongue.
(/) Dissert. 40 6- della Perf. Poes. torn. I. p. 7«
$21
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Crescimbeni (g) however confesses, as Bembo, Redi, and many
Italian writers of eminence had done before, that the Provengals
were regarded by his countrymen as the fathers of their poetry (h) ;
and that Dante, Cino da Pistoia, Guido Cavalcante, Petrarca, and
Bocaccio, allowed them to have formed their own language, and
produced an infinite number of poems, long before the Italians could
boast of either. Indeed by a comparison of the most ancient Italian
poems now subsisting with those of Provence, it appears that they
imitated the forms and structure of the poetical compositions of
the ancient Troubadours, who furnished them likewise with their
poetical terms of art which are the same in both languages (*).
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries all the nations of
Europe began to cultivate their language and poetry ; but the fruits
of none have retained their taste and sweetness, except the Italian.
Latin, at this time, was but rarely used for common purposes, and
in the two following centuries it was almost wholly confined within
monastic walls (&).
With respect to the music of the middle ages in Italy, Muratori
(Q asserts, with seeming truth, that it did not wholly perish : and
mentions from the History of Malaspina (m) a chorus of women
singing through the streets accompanied with Cymbals, Drums,
Flutes, Viols, and other musical instruments, in the year 1268, when
Prince Conrad was inarching against Charles the First, King of
Sicily. He likewise gives an account (ri) of the continuation of the
Pagan custom of hiring women, prcefica, to sing and weep over the
dead at their funerals, till the fourteenth century (o) ; at which time,
and afterwards, it was customary among the Lombards to have an
epithalamium sung at the weddings of all persons who could afford it.
Innumerable bands of tumblers, buffoons, rope-dancers,
musicians, players on instruments, and actors were then retained
in the courts of princes, who, by their gambols, farces, sports, and
songs, diverted the company (£). These were called in Tuscany
($) Introd. die Vite de' Poeti Provenzali, p. 2.
(h) Come di padri della sua Poesia.
(*) The Provencal poets had no versisciolti, or blank verse, like the Italians' all their
poetry was in rhyme, so that it seems as if the Italians in their blank verse had imitated the
Latins, and in rhyming the Provencals.
(ft) As the Latin language was in use, and generally understood longer in Italy, its native
country, than elsewhere; it seems to account naturally for the cultivation of the vulgar tongue
there, at a later period than in some other parts of Europe. v«s»e
(J) Dissert. 24.
(m) lib. iv.
(*) Dissert 23.
(o) See the word computatnx in Du Gauge: "In their dirges they used to enumerate the
virtues and celebrate the nobility, nches, beauty, and fortune of the deceased' hence
computatnccs, computers, counters, enumerators of the qualities and perfections of the person
whose funeral they attended." The practice is still continued in Ireland, and, according to
Le Bran, among the Turks.
(£) Dissert. 29.
ft* -
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
Giullari and Giocolari, and, by those who mentioned them in Latin,
Joculares and Joculatores. These fabricators of amusement never
departed without being well rewarded. But what appears the most
extraordinary and different from our present customs, is, that the
costly and gorgeous robes which it was usual for princes to receive
from other great personages who visited their courts at feasts, or
upon their marriage, as marks of their friendship and respect, were
bestowed on these people. Benvenuto Aliprando, an old rustic poet
in his Chronicle (q) describes a marriage at the great court of
Mantua, in the year 1340, while under the dominion of the Gonzaga
family. * ' At that time, ' ' says he, ' ' the different princes and nobles
of Italy, whose names he mentions, presented the Gonzaghi with
a variety of rich and precious vestments, which were called robe,
robes, and which were afterwards given to musicians and buffoons/'
as the old poet informs us in the following lines :
Tutte le robe sopra nominate
Furon in tutto trenf otto e trecento,
A buffoni e sonatori donate (r).
The family of Gonzaga in return reciprocally exercised
munificence towards the nobles who visited themi as the same old
poet informs us in the following rude verses:
Otto giorno la corte si durare
Torni erif giostri, bagordi "facia.
Ballar, centar' 9 e sonar jacean fare.
Quattro cento senator si dicia
Con buffoni alia corte si trovoe.
Roba e danar donar lor si facia.
Ciascun molto contento si chiamoe, &c. (s).
With what magnificence the princes of the house of Visconti
supported their court at Milan during the same century is
frequently described by Corio the historian (t); but he particularly
excites our wonder by his account of the solemn pomp with which
the nuptials of Lionel duke of Clarence, son of Edward the third
(q) Lib. ii. cap. 53*
(r) And all these costly robes of state
In all three hundred thirty-eight,
To fidlers and buffoons were given.
(s) Eight days these sports were held, where valiant knights
In tilts and tournaments their prowess show,
And minstrels, full four hundred, crown the rites,
While dance and song teach ev'ry heart to glow.
To these and each buffoon who here was found
Or gold was giv'n, or robes of costly sort;
And all so well their spritely arts were crown'd,
Depart contented from the splendid court.
(£) Bernardo Corio, the author of a History of Milan, was born in that city, 1460.
623
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
of England, was celebrated in 1368, with Violante the daughter
of Galeazzo Visconti, duke of Milan. This event is circumstantially
related by several other ancient historians of Italy; and Aliprando
of Mantua tells us that Lionel gave five hundred superb dresses to
the minstrels, musicians, and buffoons who were then assembled
at Milan; that Galeazzo presented them with many more, and
Bernabo, his brother, rewarded them munificently with money on
the occasion.
The splendid robes and gorgeous attire of Bards and Minstrels
at ail times are upon record. The flowing vest of Orpheus in the
triple capacity of Priest, Legislator, and Musician, is specified by
Virgil (u); Arion is related by Herodotus (x) to have leaped into
the sea in the rich vestments he usually wore in public; Suidas
speaks of the saffron robe and Milesian slippers worn by
Antigenides (y); and the performers in the Tragic Chorus, which
used to be furnished at the expence of some wealthy citizen of
Athens, wore also a splendid and costly uniform.
In France the Jongleurs, and in Provence the Troubadours, or
Minstrels, during the middle ages, had frequent presents of costly
robes from their patrons. In the Fabliau, Conte, or Tale of the
red Rose, a female complains to a vavassar, or yeoman, of his
having taken from her a robe, to give to the Minstrels.
Bien doit estre vavassor vis,
Qu'il vuet devenir menestrier;
Miez voudroi qui fussiez rez, (ras6)
Sans aigue (eau) la teste <§• le coul,
Que ai n'y remansist chevoul,
S'apartient a ces fongleours
Et a ces autres Chanteours,
Qu'ils ayent de ces Chevaliers
Les robes, car c'est lor Mestiers (z).
Fabliau de la Rose vermeille.
The custom of presenting Musicians with superb and expensive
dresses during the fourteenth century, in the manner already
related, seems to have travelled into England, and to have
(w) Mn. lib. vi. 645.
(*) CKo.
(y) In Antigenid.
(z) I would not own the wretch for kin
"Who won'd the Minstrel trade puisne,
He'd better dry shave head and chin,
• And, with the hair, cut off the skin,
fe Than herd with such a worthless crew.
- Let splendid knights with usual pride
On Fidlers lavish such rewards,
Bnt 'tis to meaner fools denied
To strip themselves for vagrant Bards.
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
continued here till after the establishment of the king's band of
four-and-twenty performers: part of their present salary being
still paid at the wardrobe office as an equivalent for the annual
dress with which they used to be furnished at his Majesty's expence.
To this we may add, that the Waits, or Musicians who attend on
the Mayor and Aldermen, in most of our incorporate cities and
towns, are furnished with splendid cloaks.
The most ancient prose writings that have been preserved in
the Italian language, except books of accounts, are the Letters of
Fra Guittone d'Arezzo [1215-94], who flourished about 1250, and
who was likewise a Poet, and celebrated both by Dante and
Petrarca (a). But Dante himself has long been regarded by the
Italians as the great founder of their language and versification;
and indeed he seems to have been as much the father of Epic
Poetry in the Italian language, as Shakespeare is of the English
Drama, for by preceding every other Poet of eminence in his
country, his licences either of language or imagery became laws;
and there is a certain boldness in his sentiments as well as diction,
which very much resembles that of our Dramatic Bard. His
penetration into the secret recesses of the human heart, his
happiness in supplying the defects of historical narration, his
pursuit of the human passions and affections through all their secret
windings and doublings, and his invention of infernal tortures
adequate to every species of crime, as well as the chief part of the
poetical language in which he has described them, help to fortify
the parallel; and if to such excellencies as are in common with both
these writers we add the simplicity of his expression, and that he
is sublime in imagery and ideas more than in words, that he is
utterly free from the concetti of which many of his countrymen
have been accused, and tjiat he has neither borrowed from Homer
like Virgil, nor from Virgil as Tasso has done, though he modestly
calls him his master (6); that neither chivalry, romance, nor
Gothic manners have furnished him with the incidents or machinery
of ^his poem, as was afterwards the case with Pulci, Boiardo,
Ariosto, and Tasso, he will appear justly entitled to the praise and
admiration which have long been bestowed upon him by his
countrymen.
This great poet, like our own Milton, had the misfortune to
live at a period when his countrymen, divided into implacable
factions, were mutually meditating the destruction of each other,
under the names of Guelfs and Ghibellines. The Guelfs were
partizans of the Papal power, and the Ghibellines of the Imperial;
and Dante by joining the latter, who were unfortunate, was driven
from Florence, the place of his nativity, and obliged to end his
days in exile and misery. He tells us himself that he began his
(a) Vide Su£ra, p. 103.
(6) Tu se' lo mio maestro— lot Cant i. 85. But it seems only to have been in point of
style and expression :
Tu sci solo col i, da CM' io tolsi
Lo BELLO STILE che m'a fatto onore.
VOI,. i. 40. 625
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Commedia at the age of thirty-five, before his misfortunes, and
finished it in banishment (c).
Franco Sacchetti (d), one of the most ancient writers of Italy,
tells us (e) that the first part of Dante's work, which was written
before his exile, was not only read by his countrymen during his
life-time, but known by heart, and sung through the streets by the
common people. And in one of this author's novels it is said, that
a certain ballad-singer called Manescalco, and a country fellow, so
provoked Dante as he was passing by, with their vulgar and corrupt
manner of pronouncing the words, that he could not refrain from
severely chastising them for their ignorance. We may easily
imagine that the music of such singers was not more refined than
their pronunciation, and that the melody to which they sung the
ierze rime of Dante was equally ample and rustic with that to which
the Gondolieri of Venice still sing the ottave rime or stanzas of
(c) Why a Poem on such grave subjects as Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, should be
called Commedia, has never yet been satisfactorily accounted for by the critics. If Dante had
not given it that title himself in the body of the work, where, Inf. 16. 127, he swears by the
notes of his Comedy
e £er le note
Di questa COMEDIA lettor ti ginro,
and if Boccaccio in his life had not continued it, we might have supposed such an appellation
to have been a fantastic conceit of some later editor; but we are sure that the word
Commedia in the time of Dante did not imply the same kind of composition as at present;
for there were no plays, called Tragedies and Comedies, written or exhibited in Italy for a
long time after the death of Dante. It would indeed fill many pages if I were to quote the
different reasons that have been assigned by the learned in Italy for this appellation; but if
we may believe the venerable author himself, it was in pure humility that he entitled his
poem Commedia; for in his Latin Essay on the Italian Language, de Vulgari Eloquio, lib. ii.
cap. 4, he divides eloquence into three styles or classes, the great, the less, and the plaintive :
or the Tragic, Comic, and Elegiac. Whence we may discover his reason for calling his Poem
Comedy on account of its being. written in a simple and humble style, and in the vulgar
tongue, in which even unlettered women express their thoughts." Very few of the learned in
Dante's time condescended to use any other language than Latin; and it was his first idea to
write his Poem in that language.
As Dante in humility calls his own Poem a Comedy, so for a different reason he makes
Virgil style his Eneid a Tragedy:
Euripilo ebbe nome, e cosni'l canta
L'alta mia TRAGEDIA in oleum loco. — Inf. 20. 112.
Chaucer, in his definition of Tragedy, used the word in a vague sense, merely to imply a
melancholy story I
Tragedie is to sayn a certain stone
As olde book is maMn us memorie,
Of him that stood in gret prosperitee,
And is yfallen out of high degree
In to miserie, and endeth wretchedly.
And they been versified commonly
Of six feet, which men clipen examitron :
In prose eke bin endited many on,
And eke in metre, in many a sondry wise.
v. 13979.
Thus a ballad in Dr. Percy's Collection (Reliques of Anc. Eng. Poetry) is called The Lady
Isabella's TRAGEDY. Chaucer's monk calls each of his little tales Tragedies:
— Tragedies first I wol telle
Of which I have a hundred in my celle.
The monk, to give a specimen of his learning, not content in telling the company in
plain English, that tragedies are composed of verses of six feet, adds the technical Greek term
Exametron: n<y*m the iambic verse of tragedy was called Trimetron; Hexameter being always
confined to Heron, EJHG, verse. It seems therefore, as Chaucer makes no mention of dialogue
in describing such Tragedies as the monk is about to relate, which are merely sorrowful teles,
that by Exametron, he meant the Heroic verse used in Epic or narrative Poetry, when grave
and tragic stories were told in the learned languages.
(4) This author was bom 1310, and died 1390.
(«) Novella 114 £ 1*5 della prima Parte.
626
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
Tasso, and which is little more than a species of canto fenno.
However, it is discoverable in many parts of Dante's writings, that
he was not insensible to the power of such music and musical
talents as his age afforded.
Scochetto was the cotemporary and friend of Dante, and not
only a Poet but an able Musician, as is concluded from the title
of an ancient MS. of a Ballatella, which informs us, that the words
were by Dante, and the tune by Scochetti: Parole di Dante, e
Suono di Scochetti (/). And it is said by the commentators of
Dante that his friend Casella, whom he meets hi purgatory, was an
excellent Musician.
Dante was born in 1265, and died 1321. In the Vatican
Library (g) a Ballatella, or Madrigal, of Lemmo ,da Pistoja, who
flourished about the year 1300, is preserved; upon which there is
the following memorandum : Lemmo da Pistoja; e Casella diede il
Suono. Implying that the words by Lemmo/were set to Music by
Casella; which agrees very well with the time when Dante feigns
to have met him in Purgatory. The Poet tells us that he began
to write his Inferno in 1300, when he was thirty-five years of
age (*).
There is something in the description of this imaginary rencontre
so simple and affectionate, that I cannot help wishing to convey an
idea of it to my English reader. Dante, after visiting the infernal
regions with Virgil, is conducted by the same poet into purgatory;
where, soon after his arrival, he saw a vessel approach the shore
laden with departed souls under the conduct of an angel, who
brought them thither to be cleansed from their sins, and rendered
fit for Paradise : as soon as they were disembarked, says the poet,
'* they began like beings landed on a foreign shore, to look around
them :
On me when first these spirits fix their eyes, Cost al viso mio s'aflisar quelle
They all regard me with a wild surprise, Anime fortunate tutte quante,
Almost forgetting that their sins require Quasi obbliando drire a farsi belle.
The purging remedy of penal fire : T vidi una di lor trarresi avante,
When one of these advanc'd with eager pace, Per abbracciarmi, con si grande aftetto,
And open arms, as me he would embrace; Che mosse me a far lo simigliante.
At sight of which I found myself impell'd 0 ombre vane, fuor che nell' aspetto !
To imitate each gesture I beheld. Tre volte dietro a lei le mani avvinsi,
But vain, alas ! was ev'ry effort made, E tante mi tornai con esse al petto.
My disappointed arms embrace a shade:
Thrice did vacuity my grasp elude,
Yet still the friendly phantom I pursued.
My wild astonishment with smiling grace Di maraviglia, credo, mi dipinsi:
The spectre saw, and chid my fruitless chase. Per che I'ombra sorrise, e si ritrasse,
Ed io, seguendo lei, oltre mi pinsi.
Soavemente disse, ch'i posasse:
The voice and form now known, my feai Allor conobbi chi era: e pregai,
suspend, Che parlarmi un poco s'arrestasse.
0 stay, cried I, one moment with thy friend! Risposemi: cost, com'i t'amai
No suit of thine is vain, the vision said, Nel mortal corpo, cod t'amo sciolta:
1 lov'd thee living, and I love thee, dead.
(/) Crescembeni, 1st. del'a Volg. Poes. p. 409.
(g) No. 3214. P- 149-
(h) Nel Mezzo del Cammin di nostra vita.
fi*7
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Bat whence this haste? — not long allow'd to Perb m'arresto: ma tu perche vai?
stay, Casella mio, per tornare alira volt a
Back to the world thy Dante takes his way— La dove i' son, fo io questo viaggio :
Yet let this fleeting hour one boon obtain, Diss' io
If no new laws thy tuneful pow'rs restrain, Se nttova legge non ti toglie
Some song predominant o'er grief and woe Memoria, o itso all' amoroso canto,
As once thou sung'st above now sing below; Che mi solea quetar tutte mie voglie,
So shall my soul, releas'd from dice dismay, Di do piaccia consolare alquanto
O'ercome the horrors of this dreadful way. L'anima mia, che con la sua persona.
Venendo qui e afjannata tanto.
Casella kindly deign'd his voice to raise, Amor, che nella mente mi ragiona (»),
And sung how Love the human bosom sways, Comincio egli allor si dolcementef
In strains so exquisitely sweet and dear, Che la dolcezza ancor dentro mi suona.
The sound still vibrates on my ravish'd ear; Lo mio maestro, ed iof e quelle gente,
The shadowy troops, extatic, listening round, Ch'eran con lui, parevan si contenti,
Forgot the past and future in the sound. Com' a nessun toccasse altro la mente.
Milton has addressed a Sonnet to Hemy Lawes, on his Airs, in
which he alludes to Dante's affection for Casella :
Hany, whose tuneful and well measured Song
First taught our English Music how to span
Words with just note and accent, not to scan
With Midas' ears, committing short and long;
Thy worth and skill exempts thee from the throng,
With praise enough for envy to look wan:
To after age thou shalt be writ the man,
That with smooth air could'st humour best our tongue,
Thou honour'st verse, and verse must lend her wing
To honour thee, the priest of Phoebus quire,
That tune'st their happiest lines in hymn or story.
Dante shall give Fame leave to set thee higher
Than his Casella, whom he woo'd to sing
Met in the milder shades of purgatory.
This Sonnet, one of the best of twenty-three which were written
by our great poet Milton, shews how difficult and unnatural the
construction of this species of poem is in the English language;
whereas from the great number of similar terminations in the
Italian tongue, and the success of Petrarca, it has long been the
favourite measure of Italy for short compositions. However,
Muratori (A) thinks it extremely difficult for his countrymen to make
a good Sonnet; and compares this kind of Poem to the bed of
Procrustes, where the legs of those that were too short were
stretched, and those too long were cut to the size of the bed. Antonio
£ Tempo, a Civilian at Padua, in his Treatise on Poetry 1332,
distinguishes sixteen different kinds of Sonnet.
Dante however regarded the Canzone as the most perfect species
of lyric composition (J). For this Poem he establishes laws which
are less rigid than those of the Sonnet. Indeed he defines poetry
in general, " rhetorical fiction, set to music."
™s » &* first fa* of °°e °* Dante's own odes, as he tells us himself: Convito,
(ft) Delia Perfetta Poesia. (2) Delia volg. Eloq. cap. 4.
628
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
Among the definitions of this writer I find the word Cantilena
used as a diminutive of Canzone. When the Song is written on a
grave or tragic subject, says he, it is called Canzone, and when
comic, by diminution, Cantilena. This word is now appropriated
as a musical term to distinguish the treble part, or principal melody
of any composition, from the base and other inferior parts. Canto,
too, which was applied very early in the Italian poetry to different
portions of a poem, was taken from Cantus, Lat. and Canto, Ital.
the upper part or melody in a composition of many parts.
What was afterwards called Madrigale, Dante terms Madriale,
the etymology of which word has been much disputed; but it seems
as if its first application was to religious poems, addressed to the
Virgin, alia Madre : whence Madriale and Madrigale : but being
afterwards applied to short poems upon love and gallantry, by the
Italians and French, the original import has been forgotten. Indeed
it does not seem probable that the word Madrigal should originally
have implied a Morning-Song, as some have imagined, the Italians
having been long in possession of the term Matinata, a lover's matins
under the window of his mistress, as they have of Serenata, for an
Evening-Song*
The most ancient melodies that I was able to find in Italy which
had been originally set to Italian words, were in a collection • of
Laudi Spirituali, or sacred songs, preserved in a large MS. of the
Magliabecchi Library, at Florence.
It was the opinion of Father Menestrier (m) that Hymns,
Canticles, and Mysteries in the vulgar tongues of Europe had their
origin from the pilgrims who went to the Holy Land. St. Francis
d'Assise, born 1182, is mentioned by Crescimbeni and other Italian
writers among the first pious persons of that country who exercised
their genius in composing Hymns and Spiritual Songs called Laudi,
in the form of Canzonets. Le Laudi, which were likewise called
Lalde, Lodi, Cantici, or Canticles, are compositions in praise of
God, the Virgin Mary, or the Saints and Martyrs. They resemble
Hymns as to the subject, but not the character and versification :
Hymns having been originally constructed on Greek and Roman
models; but the Laudi, or Spiritual Songs, are entirely of Italian
invention.
A society for the performance of these religious poems was
instituted at Florence so early as the year 1310, the members of
which were called Laudesi, and Laudisti. In the fifteenth century
this species of sacred poetry was very much esteemed and practised,
as is manifest by the various collections that were made of them,
one of which was printed 1485. In the next century several
volumes of them were published, among which there are many
poetical compositions on sacred subjects by Politian, Bembo,
(m) Sur les Dromes en Musiquc.
* It is probable that the word madrigal is derived from the mediaeval Latin metrical*,
which wa$ a pastoral song in the vernacular. Madrigals, often in the form ot canons, were
being written by Italians as early as the I4th century.
629
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Lodovico Martelli, and other eminent poets (n). In the last century,
though their favour was somewhat diminished, yet besides a large
volume composed by Serafino Razzi, and published by the author,
1608, there were many collections of these Spiritual Songs printed.
Crescimbeni tells us, that the company of Laudisti of St.
Benedict at Florence went to Rome during the time of the grand
jubilee in the year 1700, and sung through the streets in procession
several Laudi that were written by the celebrated Filicaia. In
most of the ancient collections Melodies were prefixed to each of
these Songs. They were at first little more than Chants, and
without Base. However, according to the commentary on
Boccaccio by Sansovino, published at Venice 1546, they were
afterwards sung in many different parts. " There are in Florence,"
says he, " several schools of artizans and mechanics, among which
are those of Orsanmichele, and Santa Maria Novella. Every
Saturday after nine o'clock these assemble in the church, and there
sing five or six Laudi, in four parts, the words of which are by
Lorenzo de'Medici, Pulci, and Giambellari; and at every Laud
they change the singers, and to the sound of the organ discover a
Madonna, which finishes the festival. And these singers, who are
called Laudesi, have a precentor whom they denominate their
captain or leader."
This company still subsists, and during my stay at Florence in
1770, I frequently heard them sing their Hymns through the streets
in three parts, and likewise in their church, accompanied by an
organ (o).
Of the antiquity of this institution, as the MS. volume of Laudi
Spirituals which I found in the Magliabecchi Library at Florence
is an indisputable proof, I shall here insert the preface to the
collection, which is an historical account of the establishment of a
company of Laudisti, who sing in the church of the humble Fraternity
of All Saints, at Florence ; which company was ordained and
established by the will and authority of the Friar William, master
general of the aforesaid order, Nov. xi. MCCCXXXVI. to the
honour and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ and the blessed Virgin
Mary his Mother, as well as of all the holy and venerable Saints of
Paradise. And may all those who are or shall be of this company,
enjoy the fruits of grace in this life, and after death be rewarded with
divine and eternal glory, Amen (p).
(n) Quadrio, Storia d'Ogni Poes. vol. ii. p. 446.
(o) Present State of Music in France and Italy. Art. FLORENCE.
(p) In name di Dip Amen. Questo Libra e de la Compagnia de U Laude che si cantano ne
la Chiesa di frati dogni Sancti di Firenze dell ordine degli umiliati. La quote compagnia fue
ordinata e comi data per auctoritate e volonta di missere Frate Guilielmo maestro generate del
sopradetto ordine degli umiliati, net M.CCC-XXXVL a di xi. del mese di Novembre ad honore
e a rivercnzia del nostro Signore Idio, e de la Virgine gloriosa Maria sua madre, e di missere
Sancto Benedecto e di missere Sancto venerando ei di Madonna Sancta Lucia Virgine, e di tucti
Sancti e le Sancte di Paradiso, et a jructo di gratia in questa vita a tucti coloro che sonno e
saranno de la decta compagnia, e dopo la low morte a beata gloria divina et erna. Amen.
Quests sonno le Laude le quagli sonno inscripte e publicate e ordinate per gli nobiK e
Sanctt Huomini de lapredicta compagn a, di Frati degni Sancti di Firenze secundo che in questa
Tavola si contiene. In pnma alia Trinita beata.
630
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
" These are the Hymns which are written, published, and
ordained by the noble and holy members of the said company of
Friars of All Saints at Florence, according to the table of contents :
and first,
Alia Trinita*
=•=»
AL U TRI.M.-TA BE-,- A. TA DA NOI SEM—.PRE
P=5
A -.- - DO -,.-RA V-TA TRI -,. Nl -,.,- TA
GLO— --RI--O- - SA
ME — > RA -^—: - VI — OUO • SA
NAANNA' SA -
• PO '- - RO . SA
£' TUTT'OR
To the blessed Trinity.
But few memorials remain relative to Secular Music, during this
dark and Gothic period, equally indisputable and interesting with
the use that was made of it in Rome at the time when the poet
PETRARCH was crowned laureat ; a circumstance not wholly
unconnected with the subject of musical history.
The custom of crowning persons who had distinguished
themselves in Poetry and Music, which was almost as ancient as
the arts themselves, subsisted till the reign of the emperor
Theodosius, when the Capitoline games being regarded as remnants
of Pagan superstition were utterly abolished (q). These arts being
• («) See page 412.
*The first word of this hymn should be Alta. It is to be found » a MS. collection of
Laudi Spirituali in the Bib. Nat. Cent, at Florence (MS. II. i. 1222). Under the name of
"Florence" it is included in many collections of Hymns. In Hymns Ancient and Modern it
is No. 203 of the Historical edition of 1909 (No. 379 » the original and 440 in the revised
edition).
63I
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
afterwards involved in the ruin and desolation of Italy, and every
other civilized part of Europe, by the irruptions of Barbarians, were
but little cultivated or encouraged : yet, now and then a Poet seemed
to arise from the ashes of former Bards ; but as few were able to
read their productions, and, indeed, as few of them deserved to be
read, it removes all surprize at the little honour that was bestowed
upon poets in Italy for many ages after the subversion of the Roman
empire.
It was not till near the time of Petrarch that poetry recovered its
ancient lustre and importance, or was invested with its former
prerogatives. However, at this period the union that had so long
subsisted between Poetry and her twin-sister Music was so entirely
dissolved that she shared none of her honours, and only performed
the part of an humble attendant on the occasion. But the time
was not then very remote when Music triumphed in her turn, over
her insolent relation, by setting up a separate interest, and delighting
the public without her aid or assistance. For, in consequence of
additional characters being invented for the different duration of
sounds, a new species of instrumental composition was cultivated,
which was capable of affording great delight to the lovers of
harmony, without the help of poetical numbers, or even the tones
and articulations of the human voice in its performance. And,
since this period, a poet has been more in need of the assistance of
others to exhibit his productions than the Musician ; who, after he
has finished a composition suited to his own powers, executes it
frequently himself in such a manner as is seldom equalled by future
performers.
In the year 1340, Petrarch had the honour of receiving two letters
on the same day : one from the Roman senate, and the other from
the university of Paris, inviting him to accept the laurel crown ; and
having given the preference to Rome, on his arrival in that city,
in 1341, during the pontificate of pope Benedict XII, he found every
thing prepared for the ceremony of his coronation, by the senator
count Orso dell* Anguillara. The design was announced in the
morning, by the sound of trumpets, when the people, curious to
see a festival which had been interrupted for so many ages, assembled
in great crowds from all quarters.
Petrarch marched to the Capitol, preceded by twelve youths,
dressed in scarlet, and of the best families in Rome, singing verses
composed by the poet ; who was attired in a robe, presented to him
by Robert the Good, king of Naples, who had taken it off his own
back and desired him to wear it on the day of his coronation. The
principal citizens of Rome, habited in a green uniform, and crowned
with flowers of different kinds, attended Petrarch in procession.
After these marched the senator, accompanied by the chief members
of the Roman Council. When he was seated, Petrarch, being
summoned by a herald, pronounced a short oration. Afterwards,
when he had thrice cried out long live the Roman people ! long live
the senator ! may God preserve their liberty (r) ! he kneeled before
(r) Viva lo pofiolo Romano I viva lo senatorel Dio lo mantenga in libert*dc\
632
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
the senator, who, after a short speech, took from his own head a
crown of laurel, and placed it on that of Petrarch, saying, " The
crown is the meed of virtue ($)." The poet, then, recited a beautiful
poem upon the heroes of Rome, which is not in his works ; and the
people expressed their approbation by repeated shouts, and
exclamations of " Long live the poet! and long may the Capitol
endure ! ' ' Stephen Colonna, as the poet tells us himself, afterwards
spoke ; and, having a great affection for Petrarch, bestowed on him
such praise as flowed from the heart. His friends who were present
on the occasion shed tears of delight ; " and though," says Petrarch
of himself, " I was almost overcome with joy, I was not unconscious
that these honours were superior to my desert ; I blushed at the
applause of the people, and at the excess of praise with which I was
loaded."
At the termination of the ceremony, Petrarch was conducted,
with the same attendants, and the same pomp, to the church of St.
Peter, where, after returning thanks to the Supreme Being for the
honour which had been bestowed on him, he laid down his crown,
in order that it might be placed among the offerings that were
suspended to the roof of the temple.
The same day, count Anguillara had letters patent drawn up (£),
by which the senators, after a very flattering preamble, declare
Petrarch to have merited the title of great poet and historian ; " and
that, as an especial mark of his poetical abilities they had placed a
crown of laurel on his head, granting him, as well by the authority
of king Robert, as by that of the senate of Rome, full power and
licence to exercise the arts of poetry and history, to read, dispute,
explain ancient books, make new, compose poems ; and to wear at
all times a crown of laurel, ivy, or myrtle, at his pleasure, as well as
the poetical habit (u). Finally, he is declared by these presents,
a Roman citizen, entitled to all the privileges annexed to that
honourable appellation, as an acknowledgment for the affection
which in his works, as well as in his public professions, he has always
manifested for the city and its republic."
Thus ended the pomps and vanities of this memorable day,
during which Petrarch appears to be nothing less than a philosopher.
All the wisdom, modesty, and even delicacy of sentiment with
which his writings are fified, seem on this occasion to have been
wholly laid aside and forgotten. To become a public spectacle, and
exhibit his person for the gratification of his own vanity, and the
idle curiosity of an ignorant multitude, in these days would rather
qualify a man for Bedlam, than for the sovereignly of Parnassus.
The blame can only be laid on his youth ; or, rather, on the practice
of the times, which abounded with romantic customs, derived from
Gothic institutions of chivalry ; in compliance with which, knights,
(s) Corona premia la virtu I
(t) An extraordinary homage, says Voltaire, which the astonishment of his age bestowed
upon his uncommon genius. Hist. Univ. torn. II.
(«) There was, at this time, a dress peculiar .to Poets, as well as Musicians. Dante,
according to Villani, his cotemporary, was buned in the poetical habit, lib. ix. cap. 33-
533
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
nobles, kings and emperors, frequently exhibited their persons in
tilts, tournaments, and pageants, with as little concern as veteran
actors by profession.
I was curious to know Petrarch's own opinion, in his old age,
of the transactions of this day ; and have found, in a letter written
a little before his death, the following passage, — which seems to
disarm censure.
" Those laurels with which my brows were bound were too
green ; if I had been of a more mature age and understanding, I
should not have sought them. Old men only love what is useful,
while the young pursue every thing splendid, without any regard
to intrinsic worth. This crown rendered me neither more learned
nor more eloquent ; it only drew upon me the envy of the malignant,
and robbed me of my wonted repose. Ever since that time, I have
been constantly under arms: every tongue, every pen has been
pointed against me; my friends are become my enemies; and I
now suffer for my audacity and presumption. ' '
Yet, however childish and frivolous such a pageant might now
be thought, the want of appetite for it in the present age is, perhaps,
more the effect of satiety, than of superior wisdom and good taste ;
and the eagerness with which the Romans in Petrarch's time feasted
on such gew-gaws may be ascribed to long fasting, and privation
of every elegance and refinement in the polite arts. The same love
of novelty which represses our curiosity after common spectacles,
impelled the Roman citizens to regard Petrarch as a divinity, and
the honours bestowed on him as effusions of justice and discernment.
If we compare his productions with those of his cotemporaries (x)\
we shall find the superiority greater than in those of any other
poet, Shakspeare excepted, who has been the favourite of our own
country. The elegant and captivating author of his Memoirs (y)
justly regards him as " the greatest genius which Italy, so fertile
in men of superior talents, has produced ; and as a writer to whom
literature in general, and the Tuscan language and poetry in
particular, have the greatest obligations. He dissipated the clouds
of barbarism," continues this admirable biographer, " which
covered all Europe, and may be said to have dug up and
re-animated the good authors who had long lain buried and
forgotten. He has purified and enriched the Italian tongue, and
furnished its poetry with such sweetness, harmony, and grace, as
preclude all envy at the perfection of Greek and Latin compositions. ' '
He may have been sometimes too much admired by his countrymen,
and, like other great models, too frequently imitated ; yet, when
literary zeal has such an object of admiration, its excess only
becomes reprehensible.
It seems from several passages in Petrarch's Sonnets and
Canzone that Laura had cultivated music, or at least that her
old wh * M Petrarch
(y) Memoire font la Vie de Francois Petratque. Tom. I. Dedic.
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
singing had helped to rivet his chains. In the twentieth Canzone
or Ode, indeed, he uses the word note, notes, figuratively, for
words, lines, or verses.
Continuando L'Amorose note.
But in Sonnet 104 he distinguishes song from speech :
ELANGELICO CANTO, e le parole
Del dolce spirto.
Sonnet 124, written on the subject of Laura weeping at the news
of some calamity which had happened in her family, is full of
allusion to music.
Sonetto.
I vidi in terra angelici costumi,
E celesti belezze al mondo sole,
Talche di remembrar mi giova, e dole'.
Che quant' io miro, par sogni, ombre, e fumi:
E vidi lagrimar que duo bei lumi
C'han fatto mille volte invidia al sole:
Ed udi sospirando dir parole
Che farian gir i monti, e star i fiumi.
Amor, senno, valor, pietate, e doglia
Facean piangendo un piu dolce CONCENTO.
D'ogni altro che nel mondo udir soglia :
Ed era' I cielo alVarmonia si'ntento,
Che non si vedea in ramo mover foglia,
Vanta aoicezza avea pien I'aere, e'l vento
Sonnet.
I saw on earth angelic virtues beam
And blaze with such celestial charms and
grace
That since, no other excellence I trace,
But all appears a shade, a smoke, a dream :
When Laura's eyes with tears began to teem.
Eyes which the sun oft envies in his race;
When with such sighs and words she wail'd
her case
As mountains sure would move, or stop a
stream :
Then love, worth, wisdom, grief, and pity
join'd
In such a CONCERT, as, however skill'd,
No sons of Harmony e'er yet combin'd;
No Zephyr stir'd, each flutt'ring leaf was
Unwilling to disturb such sounds refin'd
As all around the tuneful aether fill'd.
In his 177th Sonnet, Petrarch speaks with enthusiasm of Laura's
voice, which when she sung went to his soul.
E'l cantar che nel anima si sente.
And in Sonnet the 188th he mentions with rapture her singing
to a large company of ladies, (dodici donni) during a party of
pleasure ; and in another place, (z) speaking of her vocal powers,
he says:
Era possente
Cantando d'acquetar gli sdegni e Vvre,
Di serenar la tentpestosa mente
E sgombrar d'ogni nebbia oscura e vile.
The voice of Laura could controul
The tyrant's rage, or bend the proud;
Could calm the tempests of the soul.
And dissipate each low'ring cloud.
But it would be endless to enumerate all the passages in which
he celebrates the sweetness of her voice ; I shall therefore only
instance Sonnet the 135th, which turns wholly on its enchanting
powers.
Sonetto.
Quando amor i begli occhi a terra inchwa,
E i vaghi spirit in un sospiro accoglie
Con If sue mane; e poi in voce gli scioglie
Chiara, soave, angelica, divina:
Sento far del mio cor dolce rapwa.
E si dentro cangiar pensieri, e vogKe;
Ch'f dico : hor fien di me I'ultime spoghe
Se'l del s\ honesta morte mi destina:
(*) Canzone II. P. M.
Sonnet.
When Laura's timid looks to earth incline,
And love in sighs the vagrant air has bound.
Then lets it free expand and float around
In her clear, sweet, angelic voice divine;
Now could I quit the world and not repine:
I eager cry, if kill'd by such a wound,
For now the soul, charm'd by the soothing
sound,
Its present tenure willing would resign.
635
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Ma'l suon, eke di dolcezza i sensi lega, But more and more attached to life, those
strains
Col gran desir d'udendo esser beat* With which my soul is so completely blest
L'amma al dipartir presto rafjrena. Deprive it soon with agency and choice;
Cosl mi vivo, e cost avvolge, e spiega For still the slave of sense and bound in
chains,
Lo statne delta vita, che m'e data, I find my heart by no fond wish imprest,
Questa sola fra noi del del Sirena. But still to live, and hear her Siren voice.
I have but one circumstance more to mention relative to
Petrarch ; which is, that it appears by his will, inserted in the
Venetian edition of his Poems published by Giorgio Angelieri, 1586,
that he was himself a practical musician ; and, as Swift bequeathed
his first " best beaver-hat to the reverend John Worral," Petrarch
leaves his good lute to master Thomas Bombasio of Ferrara, that
he may play on it, not for the vanity of a fleeting life, but to the
praise and gloiy of the eternal God (a).
With respect to the peculiar kind of vocal music which was
prevalent in the time of Petrarch, as, unfortunately, none of the
melodies to which his exquisite sonnets were originally set, are come
down to the present period, it must rest upon conjecture : if we could
imagine them to have been then as much superior in grace and
smoothness to all other melodies, as his poetry was to that of his
cotemporaries, they must have contributed considerably to the effect
of these sonnets on the public ear. But it has never appeared in
the course of my enquiries that poetry and music have advanced
with equal pace towards perfection, in any country. Almost every
nation of Europe has produced good poetry before it could boast of
such an arrangement of musical sounds as constitute good melody ;
and in Italy itself, according to a late writer (6), music was the last
cultivated of any of the polite arts ; " nor is it yet, perhaps,
furnished with true principles, like painting, sculpture, and
architecture, as well as eloquence and poetry, which are established
on the laws and examples of the ancients." This author complains
with Gravina and Muratori of the degeneracy and corruption of
music in Italy, and of its having ceased to imitate nature and the
passions. For the passions, it were to be wished that they could be
more frequently excited and expressed in our music than they are ;
but for copying nature, it may be asked, What is there in nature
for a musician to copy? Is there such a thing as natural music,
except that of birds? And is that pleasing, when imitated by an
Agujari, or a Le Brun? All melodies but the cries of nature are
the productions of art: the most simple, if formed upon the musical
scale or gamut, are artificial; for the scale is unknown to all people
in a state of nature.
In an account of Petrarch's coronation, first published at
Padua, 1549, under the name of Sennuccio Delbene, which was
eagerly read, and afterwards reprinted hi several editions of his
works, it is said that there were two choirs of music, one vocal,
(a) A maestro Tommaso Bambash da Ferrara, lasdo fl mio buon liuto, aflitte cJt'eeH lo
suoni non per vanita del fugace seculo, ma a lode e gloria del? eterno iddio.
(&) Risorgiamento d* Italia, Tom. II. p. 176.
636
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
and the other instrumental, employed in the procession, which
were constantly singing and playing by turns in sweet harmony.
This seems to imply some progress in figurative counterpoint, and
singing and playing in concert (c). It is the earliest and most
favourable account of any thing like music in parts that has come
to my knowledge. The time-table had been constructed more than
two centuries before, by Franco; musica mensurabilis had likewise
received great improvements from the writings of Marchetto da
Padua in the preceding century; and by those of John de Muris
but a few years before this period, as has been already related:
and, about twenty years after, it seems as if this artificial and
complicated music had spread over great part of Europe: for in
1360, it is observed in the Chronicle of Frankfort, " that music
was amplified by new singers, and a figurative kind of composition
unknown before (d)."
I know that the authenticity of Sennuccio's account has been
doubted, though so long received as genuine by all Petrarch's
biographers, commentators, and editors, among whom were
Tomasini, Catanusi, Crescembeni, Muratori, Angelieri, Menage,
and Niceron. But, without disputing this point, or relying on
the authority of Sennuccio, sufficient proofs are to be found in
Petrarch's works, and elsewhere, of the practice of counterpoint,
or music in parts, in the fourteenth century; when the improvement
of the time-table had brought measured music, or airs, into favour
(e). Petrarch himself frequently uses the word concento (/), which
the Crusca Dictionary defines armonia, harmony resulting from
the consonance of voices and instruments. Concento was long used
in Italy for concerto, which was sometimes called conserto, as
concert is written by the old English authors consort (g).
Of the state of Music during the same period, much may be
collected from the Decamerone of BOCCACCIO, who survived
Petrarch but two years. This work has always been regarded as a
natural and faithful delineation of the manners and customs of
(c) Dui cori v'erano di Musica; I'uno di voce, I'altro di strementi, che I'wto avviconda dell'
altro, sempre con dolce concento suonava o' cantava.
(d) Observation quoque reperimus ex chronico Ffancpfurtensi, hoc anno (1360) Musicam
ampliatam esse : novos enini cantores surrexisse, et componistas et figuristas capisse alios modos
assuere. Annal. Eccles. Card. Baronii. Continuatio. Per Hen. Spondamun. torn. I. 1678.
(e) Voyez Le Beuf, Traite Hist, sur le Chant Eccle. p. 105.
(/) Vide supra, p. 234.
(d Vid Petr. Sonetto, 124. Cam. 42. Consort for concert, was not erroneously written,
but a word differently derived, Concert, from concertare, consort, from consors, consortium.
Now as concertare is never used in classic authors to signify agreement, fnendly union, but
always rival contention; and consors, consortium, on the .contrary, are appropriated to
frtenSr union, sympathy, &c. it seems as if the old English writers, who denominated
muScal symphony , £ consort, bad propriety on their. side. But unluckily the word is
irrecoverably disgraced by its being used now only in ignorance or derision. .At present
Consort has an established and unequivocal meaning appropriated to it: .companion; partner,
concurrence; union; and Concert, from concerto, Italian, from implying nval contest, struggle,
SSSS; Quarrel, is now generally understood. to signify exactly what consort did mean: the
iriendly and harmonious union of voices and instruments; an assembly of musical performers.
Who knows but this word had its origin from the musical games, when musicians contended
with each other for victory? and it must be allowed that sometimes a. still greater portion of
33 TrivaUty, contention, ^struggle, dispute and quarrel, stiU continues to actuate the
champions in musical exhibitions, than of that agreement and fnendly union, which the word
concert should now imply. . . ........
637.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Italy at the time when it was written; and though it is composed
of novels, in which fable is blended with real history, yet the
bounds of probability has been seldom exceeded in the exercise of
imagination, nor truth violated, in the recital of real events. That
the virtues and vices in which he has clothed the several characters
whose adventures he pretends to relate, are such as prevailed at
the time they are supposed to have lived, can the more readily be
believed, as through all the modifications and vicissitudes of human
affairs many of them are still prevalent. And in all the excursions
in which he is carried out of his own country, he has never
explored ideal regions, nor been transported beyond the haunts of
men.
With respect to Music, which is my excuse for mentioning this
author, whether the personages he assembles together after the
plague at Florence, 1348, and the stories they tell, are real or
imaginary, the amusements he assigns them in his ritual must have
been such as were usual to the Florentines, among whom he lived
at that time; and indeed the poems that are pretended to have been
sung, and the instruments with which they were accompanied,
subsisted before this period, and still subsist. *
In his admirable description of the plague at Florence, he
tells us, that during the horrors of that dreadful calamity, two
methods, extremely opposite, of. preservation from the disease
were adopted by those who at first escaped infection: some
imagining that by temperance, abstaining from superfluities, and
wholly separating themselves from the sick; shutting out all
intelligence concerning the sufferings of others, and amusing them-
selves with Music, and every other innocent recreation which their
confinement would allow, they should preserve themselves from
contagion; others, on the contrary, being of opinion that despising
all regimen or restraint, indulging appetite, seeking dissipation,
laughing, singing, and sporting from morning till night, would be
the most efficacious medicines against the present evils (h).
Music, therefore, we find, was not silenced even in the midst
of horror and despair: the Florentines thinking with Euripides,
who, in his Medea, complains that the exquisite pleasure arising
from this charming art is usually lavished on the happy, at
convivial festivities; whereas, it should be administered to the
afflicted and miserable, as a balm and cordial to mitigate the ills of
life.
The rites deriv'd from ancient days
With thoughtless reverence we praise,
The rites that taught us to combine
The joys of music and of wine,
And bad the feast, and song, and bowl,
O'erfill the saturated soul;
(&). -Con suoni « con quetti tiaceri, che haver fotevano, si dimoravano. Altri m
cmtrana optmoHe tratti-affermavano tlbere asstu, e *Z eodere, e Vandar cantando attorno, e
soUazzando, e H sodttfare d ogni cosa aOo tppetitp, che st tpiesse, e di do eke avveniva ridcrsi
e oaffarst, essere medtcma certtssnna a tanto male;—6-c. Decani. Giornata priraa.
63$
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
But ne'er the Flute or Lyre apply'd
To cheer despair, or soften pride.
Nor calTd them to the gloomy cells
Where Want repines, and Vengeance swells —
Where Hate sits musing to betray,
And Murder meditates his prey.
To dens of guilt and shades of care,
Ye sons of Melody, repair;
Nor deign the festive dome to cloy
With superfluities of joy.
Ah, little needs the Minstrel's pow'r
To speed the light convivial hour;
The board, with varied plenty crown' d,
May spare the luxuries of sound (i).
The company however which Boccaccio assembles together, after
the plague had swept away all their relations and friends, were
better entitled to such amusements as innocence could furnish, than
those who could inhumanly detach themselves from their
fellow-creatures, when their dreadful sufferings called aloud for
assistance. And this author tells us that all the ladies and gentle-
men of his party could dance and sing, and that some of them were
not only well skilled in song, but. able to perform extremely well
on several musical instruments (&).
At the end of every Deca, or ten Novels, which he tells us were
related by the Company, each Day, he has given a Canzon, or
Ode, which was sung by one of the party, and generally
accompanied by some instrument ; and as this species of Lyric
Poetry was invented by the Troubadours of Provence, who had
generally Musicians to accompany them that were called Violars,
we may suppose the music of these songs, and the performance
to have been equally simple with those of the Provengal Bards, and
little superior to the tunes now used by the Improvisation of Italy.
For we have no proofs that Melody had as yet been much diversified
by its inventors, or embellished by the performers, who were
retained as servants of the poet.
ft) I am obliged to a learned friend for this elegant translation, of which the following is
the original, from the Medea of Euripides, v. 190. •
fie Xeyo>? K'OV&P TL <ro<£ovs
Tow irpocr0« /Bporovs, owe av a/iaprot?,
'Otwes v/xvovs eiri fiev daXuu?,
Eire r'etXaTTii/at?, jcat irapa Seiirvois
Evpoiro, £tov repTrpa? axroa?.
Srvyeov? fie fiportav ovfieis Xvmxs
Evpero AMWOTJ jcat iroXvxopfiot?
Ofiats iravetv, e£ wv tfai/arot
Aeivai re rvxai <r$aXAov<rt So/xovs.
Eat rot ra.Se fj.ev jcepfaff ajeeurdai
MoXirawri jSporov? tj/a S'ev5ewri/oc
Aatrey, TI \La.n\v ren/ov<rt /Soav;
To irapov yap ex« rep^rii/ a0' avrov,
• AatTOff TrXijpw/xa ppOTOLffw.
(k) - — Et levate te iavote, concio fosse cosa che tutte le donne carolar sapessero,
similemcnte i giovani, et forte di lore otttmamente et sonare et cantare— &c.
Decam. Gior. pxixna.
639
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Boccaccio tells us at the end of his prima giornata, or first day,
that after supper the instruments were called in, when " the Queen,
for the day, ordained that there should be a dance ; and after
one had been led off by Lauretta, Emilia sung a song, in which she
was accompanied by Dion, a gentleman of the party, on the lute
(I)." There is nothing new or extraordinary in this quotation, for
the human voice has never been silent in civilized states, when men
have been assembled together, in order to amuse themselves ; and
indeed in the most savage countries, the voice of joy is generally
accompanied by instruments. However in Italy, whence all the
liberal arts have travelled to the rest of Europe, it is curious to
know in what rank music was held at this early period, and what
use was made of it in polite assemblies, by the inhabitants. And
here a writer, justly celebrated for the exactness with which he has
described the customs of his cotemporaries in all situations, tells us
that in an assembly of persons of birth and education, who passed
ten days together during summer in a constant succession of
innocent amusements, each evening was closed by Dance and Song ;
in which the whole company, consisting of seven ladies and three
gentlemen, of different characters and acquirements, were able
to perform their parts.
In the musical recreations of the first day, the two circumstances
which are here most worthy of observation are the accompaniments
of the voice by an instrument ; and that this instrument was the
Lute. Of what the accompaniment consisted, whether it only
fortified the voice-part by playing the same melody, or more
elaborately furnished a base and different treble, arising out of its
harmony, is not easy to determine.
On the second day we find that one of the company leading off
a Carol, a song was sung by another, which was answered in a
kind of chorus by the rest ( m) .
(J) Doppo la aval cena fatti venir gli stormenti cotnando la Reina eke una danza
fosse presa, et quella menandola Lauretta, Emilia cantasse una canzone dal Lento di Dioneo
aiutata. Ib.
(m) — -Menando Emilia la Carola, la segunnte Canzone da Pampinea, rispondendo Valtre.
fu Cantata, <£c.-Boccaccio. Giornata Seconda, Nov. x.
It may, perhaps, be necessary to observe that the word Carola in Boccaccio is synonimous
with Ballata, which the Crusca Dictionary defines, Canzone, eke si Canto. BaUando ' a Song
which is sung during a Dance.
This is the sense by which the word Karole is constantly used by Chaucer.
These folke, of which I tell you so.
Upon a Karole wentin tho,
A ladie karoled hem, that night
Gladness the blissful and the light,
Well cou'd she sing and lustily
None half so well and semely
Lothe make in song such refraining, f
It sate t her wonder well to sing;
Her voice ful clere was and ful swete,
She was not rude, ne yet unmete,
But couthe enough for such doing
As longith unto Karolling.— -Rom. of the Rose, 743.
t From Refrain, the burden of a song, or return to the first part, as in a Rondeau It
is imagined Jthat the Ritornel, or symphony to a song, had its origin from the repetitions of
particular strains of a Carol, or Ballad, by instruments, for the dancers, after they had been
sung.
t Suited.
640
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
At the * close of the second day Boccaccio tells us that after
the Song, of which he gives the words, had been performed,
many others were sung, and many Dances danced to different
tunes (ri), by which we may gather that besides Carols and Ballads,
the singing of which marked the steps of a Dance, there were at
this time Songs without Dances, and Tunes without Songs.
Though Boccaccio informs us that his novellists finished every
day's amusement by singing and dancing, I shall only describe the
manner in which they are introduced when such expressions or
terms of art occur as I can explain to my purpose. At the end of
the fifth day, after a dance, the queen orders Dion, one of the gayest
and most facetious of the company, to sing, who proposes several,
at that time, well known songs, to which the ladies seem to object,
on account of the licentiousness of the words. He tells them he
would sing others, which he names, if he had a Cembalo ; by which
some have imagined is meant a Harpsichord, that instrument being
now called Cembalo in Italian. However the harpsichord is
certainly of later invention than the time of Boccaccio, who in the
passage where the word Cembalo, or Ciembalo is used, probably
meant only a kind of Tambour de Basque, or drum in the shape of
The word likewise occurs tbiee times in the Canterbury Tales; and in each of these this
sense of the word is confirmed.
Festes and instruments, Caroles and dances, v. 1933.
What ladies fayrest ben or best dancing
Or which of hem can carole best or sing. v. 2203.
Here carole is plainly distinguished from dancing; and if it is also distinguished from
singing, it must be only because it implied more than mere song: that is, song accompanying
dance.
Was never none that list better to sing
Ne lady lustier in carolling.— Cant. Tales, v. 16811.
Here it has a meaning as distinct from singing as, in the other citations, it has from
dancing. Again, v. 759.
Thof mightest thou karollis sent
And folke daunce, and merie ben
In the first line of this couplet, when Chaucer speaks of the karole being visible, it can
no longer be imagined that it implied only a song. In his Dreme, speaking of the Duchess of
Gaunt, he says:
I saw her daunce so comily
Carol and sing so swetily
Both the Carol and the Ballad, which came to us from Italy, have long lost their original
acceptation in England. The word Carol is now only to be met with in our elder poets, or
among the provincial minstrels at Christmas. But no poet since the time of Spencer seems
to have used it in the double acceptation of the Italian Carola, or the Latin Ckarcola, whence
Dr. Johnson derives it.
And let the Graces dance unto the rest
For they can do it best:
While the maidens do their Carol sing,
To which the woods shall answer, and their eccho ring.— Spencer's Epithal
Dryden seems to distinguish the Carol from the dance:
Oppos'd to her, on t'other side advance
The costly feast, the Carol and the Dance,
Minstrels and music, poetry and play,
And balls py night, and tournaments by day.— Fables.
Ballata, whence the French had their word Balade, and the English Ballad, has long
been detached from Dancing, and indeed confined to a low species of song, though Solomon's
song was once called the Ballad of Ballads. In Shakspearefs time, however, this species of
vulgar and popular poetry was wholly degraded and turned into the streets:
"An' I have not Ballads made on you all, and sung to filthy tones, may a cup of sack be
my poison" — Hen. IV.
(») Appresso quests (canzone) piu
diversi sworn.— Bocc. Giorn zda.
altre se ne cantarono, e piu danze si jecero, e sonarono
t Also, therefore, then, at that time.
VOI,. i. 41 641
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
a sieve, with small bells and bits of tin jingling at the sides of it : a
tinkling Cymbal, but not the modern harpsichord, nor the
Cymbalum of the ancients, which has been described in the first
book, and which consisted of two parts resembling basons, which
being forcibly clashed together marked the steps in Bacchanalian
processions, and the measure in singing the orgies ; and which at
present is in general use as a military instrument.*
The two instruments chiefly used by the gentlemen and ladies
in the Decamerone are the Lute and Viol ; and upon this last,
some of the ladies are said to perform. This was the instrument
which, two centuries after, became so general in England that there
was hardly a considerable family which had not a complete chest
of viols ; by which is to be understood, a treble, tenor, and base
viol, each with six strings, fretted neck, and played with a bow, in
the same proportion to each other as the violin, tenor and
violoncello. When the company wanted music merely
instrumental, for dancing, a servant was called, in, with his bagpipe
«•
It is, however, manifested from the writing of Boccaccio that
there were two kinds of music and performers in his time, as well as
at present. One species of music was a plain, simple and popular
melody, generally understood and practised by all persons well
educated, on whom nature had bestowed good ears; and the other
an elaborate and artificial species of music which professors only, or
persons of equal genius and application, were able to execute. Of
the first kind were doubtless the carols, ballads, and little songs that
are mentioned at the close of the ninth day, which pleased more
from the merit of the words, than the artifice of the melody (s) . But
as Dante had his Casella, Petrarch his Bambisio, Boccaccio likewise
celebrates among eminent professed musicians, the talents of
Minuccio d'Arezzo, who was, he tells us, an exquisite singer and
player on the viol, in great favour with Peter of Roan, King of
Sicily (*).
Though the fame of Boccaccio has been built upon his prose
productions, he was perhaps the best poet of his time, if we except
Dante and Petrarch. He is allowed by many to have been the
inventor of the ottava rima, or heroic stanza, which was afterwards
adopted by Pulci, Boiardp, Berni, Ariosto, Tasso, and all the epic
poets of Italy. But if he be denied the merit of the invention, he
was at least the first who used the stanza successfully in a work of
any length. In this kind of verse two of his poems remain, Theseus,
and Phlostratus, on which the Italian critics, and Antonio Maria
(r) II Re fatto chiamar Tindaro, gti comando; eke juoji trahesse la sua cornatnusa; al
suono della quale esso face fare molte aanze, Decam. Gior. 6.
(s) Canzawnette £u» sollazzevoli di jtarole, che di canto maestrevoli, Gior. 9.
(fy — Era in quei tempi Minucio (D'Arezzo) tenuto un finissimo Cantatore, e Sonatore, e
volontien dal Re Pietro vcduto.—Gioi. dec.
* The cembalo was an instrument of the dulcimer type. In more modern times the word
was used as a diminutive of clavicembalo.
642
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
Salvini among the rest, bestow great praise («). And it is said of
our countryman, Chaucer, by his late admirable editor, " That he
was to the full as much obliged to Boccace in his Troilus, as in his
Knightes Tale (*)."
That the instrumental as well as the vocal music of the middle
ages, was so simple and inartificial as to require no great abilities
or dexterity in the execution, seems deducible from the little notice
that is taken of the talents of musical performers, by writers who
are very lavish in their praises of music, singing, and playing, in
general.
The organ being the most complicated instrument in use during
these times, and capable of producing greater effects than any
other, seems to have excited the first amazement at the performer's
skill, which modern history has recorded.
Philip Villani, who flourished about the year 1343, and who
lived till 1405, among the lives of illustrious Florentines, chiefly of
his own times, has given that of FRANCESCO CIECO (y).
" Many," says this writer, " are the Florentines who have
rendered themselves memorable by the art of music; but all those
of former times have been far surpassed by Francesco Cieco, who
still lives (z); and who during childhood was deprived of sight by
the small-pox. He was the son of Jacopo, a Florentine painter,
of great probity and simplicity of manners; and being arrived at
adolescence, and beginning to be sensible of the misery of blindness,
in order to diminish the horror of perpetual night, he began in a
childish manner to sing; but advancing towards maturity, and
becoming more and more captivated with music, he began seriously
to study it, as an art, first by learning to sing, and afterwards by
applying himself to the practice of instruments, particularly the
Organ, which he soon played, without ever having seen the keys,
in so masterly and sweet a manner, as astonished every hearer.
Indeed his superiority was soon acknowledged so unanimously,
that, by the common consent of all the musicians of his time, he
was publicly honoured at Venice with the laurel crown for his
performance on the organ, before the King of Cyprus and
duke of Venice, in the manner of a poet laureat. Cieco died in
1390, and is buried in the church of St. Laurence." Christopher
(«) Dr. Percy, in the second volume of his venerable and captivating Relics of Ancient
English Poetry, and Mr. Warton, in his History of English Poetry, vol. i. p. 103, et seq. have
inserted an elegy on the death of our Edward the First in 1307, which is in the octave rhyme;
if this was written at the time of Edward's death, though it may prove nothing with respect
to Italian Poetry, yet it would acquit English writers of having been obliged to the Italians
for the invention of the stanza. Dr. Percy thinks it was written soon after Edward's death.
(#) See Essay on the Lang, and Vers. of Chaucer, vol, iv, p. 85.
(y) Philip Villani was the son of Mathew and nephew of John Villani, the celebrated
Florentine historians. John died at Florence in 1348, of the plague, which Boccaccio has
described; and Mathew, who continued his brother's history, till the year 1360, died likewise
of the same disease, in 1363. The lives written by Philip, Le Vite d'Uomini illustri Fiorentini,
remained in MS. till the year 1747, when they were published at Venice by the count
Mazzuchelli.
(z) The author either wrote this life at different periods of time, or else meant only to
say that Cieco still lived in the memory of his surviving friends; for he afterwards fixes the
time of his death.
643
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Landino, in his commentary upon Dante, after telling us (a) that
music had long been cultivated in Florence, and that Francesco
Cieco, his grandfather's brother, had been indemnified for the loss
of sight by the superior perfection of his ear; gives the same account
of his coronation as Philip Villani had done. " But," adds Landino,
" we have seen and heard in our own times (b) the celebrated
Antonio, sirnamed dagl' Organi, of whom it may be said that, as
many persons went from Cadiz, the remotest part of Spain, to
Rome, in order to see the historian Livy; so many most excellent
musicians have come from England, and the most distant regions
of the North : crossing the sea, Alps, and Appenines, in order to
hear the performance of Antonio."
Among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum (c), there is
a very ample Treatise on Music, in Latin, which by several internal
marks appears to have been written in Italy, about the latter end
of the fourteenth centuiy. The Rubric titles of chapters and initials
in this beautiful MS. are very neatly written, as are the Diagrams,
in ink of different colours, but chiefly red and blue. There are
some of them written on vellum, but the text is on a thick, silky
paper, caHed Bombyx. If there were no other proofs of the time
when this tract was transcribed, it would be nearly ascertained by
the numerous abbreviations, and the oblique stroke instead of the
point over the letter i, which prevailed for near a centuiy before
the invention of printing.
The title of this MS. of which there is likewise a copy in the
Vatican library (d), is the following : Libettus Musicales de ritu
canendi vetustissimo et novo, pr. Omnium quidem artium etsi varia
sit introductio duett. — It consists of two parts: the first is divided
into three books, which treat, first, of plain Song; second, of the
Division of the Monochord; third, of Concords and their species,
as well as of the Ecclesiastical Tropes or Modes. The second
part likewise contains three books : In the first, the author explains
the manner in which the ancient fathers taught music by the mere
Letters of the Alphabet; the second treats of Solmisation; and the
third of the mixture of voices, vulgarly called Counterpoint.
Though this tract, in the Vatican library, as well as the British
Museum, is said to be anonymous, yet, by an entire and attentive
perusal, it is discovered from the work itself, to have been written
by John the Carthusian of Mantua (e). The author himself telling
us (/) that he was born at Namur, where he learned to sing, but
that it was under his excellent master Victorinus of Feltri, that he
(a) Apologia, netta quote si difende Dante e Firenze da' falsi Calttniatori.
(b) The first edit, of Landino's Comment, on Dante was published in 1481.
(c) 6525 (^ No. 5904.
(e) Gattia namque me gennuit et fecit Cantorem, Italia vero qualemcumque sub Victorino
Feltrensi viro tarn literis Greeds qwum Latinis affatim imbuto Grammaticum 6- Musicnnt,
Mantua teanen Italics civttas indignum Carthusiaz Monachum. Pars, i ma. lib. 3.
(fl Paris ». lib. 3 cap. 12.
644
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
studied Boethius, whose writings are the pure fountain, and acquired
a real knowledge of music.*
He mentions Marchetto di Padua as the first who had written
upon any other genus than the Diatonic, since the time of Boethius ;
and speaks of him as having flourished about a century before:
that is, about the latter end of the thirteenth century. But though
he does not subscribe to his doctrines, this passage will nearly
point out the time when John the Carthusian produced the ^treatise
under consideration, as the writings of Marchetto, which are
preserved in the Vatican, are dated 1274, and 1283 (g). Franchinus
(h), in a musical controversy with Spataro, about the beginning of
the sixteenth century, cites our author, as a censurer of Marchetto,
by the title of Joannes Carthusinus.
Besides the usual information which still more ancient treatises
furnish, there are many curious points of musical history and
erudition cleared up in this MS. particularly the characters used by
Hubald and Odo, which though at the first glance they seem but
little to differ from each other, yet, upon a careful examination, some
specific difference is observable in the form of each. And the
Carthusian gives a triple scale or gamut, expressed in notes on the
lines and spaces, in the letters of the alphabet, and in the characters
of Hubald and Odo, which were used in the Greek and Latin church
before the time of Guido. But as this tract, which includes almost
all the knowledge of the art and science of music, which subsisted
at the time it was written, is in our own country, and accessible,
I shall extend my description of it no farther.
The next Italian theorist, whose writings have been preserved, is
PROSDOCIMO DI BELDEMANDIS.
This author's commentary on the Practica Mensurabilis Cantus
of John de Muris has been already mentioned (i). However, a
tract upon Counterpoint (ft), of which I procured a transcript from
the Vatican library, deserves particular notice here, as it was
written in the year 1412, when those rules for the combination of
sounds began to be established, upon which, in less than a century,
many compositions were produced, which still subsist, and which,
if performed, would still afford pleasure to the lovers of pure and
simple harmony.
This tract, which is comprised in about sixteen folio pages, is
drawn up with the method, clearness, and precision of an author
who is master of his subject, and accustomed to write.
The initial sentence is: Scribit Aristotiles Secundo elenchorum
cap. ultimo, facile fore inventis addere. After declaring that he
pretends not to give rules of his own invention, but to explain those
(g) Vide supra, p. 162. (fc) apolog. Adversus Jo. Spatarium.
(9 P. 548.
(fc) Contrapunctus Magistri Prosdocimi de Beldemandis Patavini. Ex. MS. Vat. 5321, fol. 8.
*He is better known as Johannes Gafficus. In the B.M. (Add. MSS. 22315) there is a
treatise, Prefatio Libelli musicalis de ritu canendi, by Johannes Galhcus. This MS. is in the
hand of N. Burtius, a musician and poet of Bologna, who was a pupil of Gafficus. On i 65 is
the date 1478. As Gallicus lived from 1415—1473. Burney dates this MS. (Harl. MS. 6525)
too early.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
already established, he proceeds to define Counterpoint, simple, and
florid. After which he gives a catalogue of musical intervals,
concords, discords, and their octaves, with the number of semitones
in each.
But as- his rules differ but little from those of John de Muris (Q,
and as we shall soon have more ample and comprehensive treatises
to examine, I shall only select from this author an account of what
he and the harmonists of early times call Musica Ficta.
The ecclesiastical modes which were so rigidly confined to the
Diatonic scale as to admit of no semitones but those from e to /, a to
6 flat, and 6 natural to c, were so religiously observed, even in
Secular Music, that the use of any other was regarded as heterodox
and licentious ; and it was not till the beginning of the present
century that transposed keys, as they are still frequently called,
became general.
Philip de Vitry, or Vitriaco, is the first author who speaks of
this deviation from the natural scale, which he says is placing
semitones where they ought not to be, and calls it Musica Falsa (m).*
John Tincter says, it is using such intervals as are not to be found
in the Harmonic Hand (») ; and Franchinus calls it Musica ficta,
seu colorata, from the chromatic semitones that are used in it. By
other old writers it is denominated conjuntca and alterata ; but
Prosdocimo, who bestows three or four pages on the subject, proves
it to imply nothing more than music in which flats and sharps are
necessary (a). In the examples given by this author, the character
for a sharp, or artificial semitone, ascending, differed but little
from the B quadrum, or square B, tj, which we now call a natural,
and which by raising B-flat half a tone, was long used to render
other sounds a semitone more acute. Prosdocimo's sharp was a
Gothic square B, or imperfect natural with four points in the
centre, which resembles the character for expressing an ascending
chromatic semitone in the Vatican MS. of Marchetto. But enough
has been said of the elements and state of music and poetry in Italy
during the period included in this chapter ; it is now time to trace
their progress in our own country.
Whoever reads the history of the most ancient inhabitants of
this island, the CAMBRO BRITONS, will find innumerable
instances of the reverence which they paid to their poet-musicians,
the bards, both of Pagan and Christian tunes ; and songs of ve
high antiquity have been preserved in the Welsh language, the
not all the tunes to which they were sung. The Harp, with which
these songs used to be accompanied, was in such general favour in
(0 See above, p. 55«-
(m) AUquando per falsa TD Musicam facimus semitonium uti non debet essc. Cap. de
Semiton.
(») Ficta Musica est cantits prater regularem mania traditionem editus.
(o) Ficta Musica est vocttm fictio, sive fiositio in loco ubi esse non vidcntur, sicut bonerr
mi ttbi non est mi, et la ubi non est fa et sic de ultra.
* Musica Ficta is mentioned by John Garland (c. 1180— c. 1252) although not under that
name and by the Pseudo-Aristotle (i2th cent).
646
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
WALES, as to be regarded among the possessions necessary to
constitute a gentleman (p). The most ancient Welsh poetry that
is now intelligible was written about the year 1 100, and some of the
tunes that are preserved in the late Mr. Morris's MS. which were
transcribed from the music-book of William Penllin, the harper in
Queen Elizabeth's time, are supposed by Dr. Davies (q) to be
coeval with the verses to which they were sung, when he composed
his Grammar and Catalogue of ancient Cambro-British songs.
Unluckily the notation, or tablature, in which these tunes have been
written, is so uncommon and difficult to reduce to modern characters
(r), that though the gravity or acuteness of the several notes can
be ascertained, yet their lengths, or duration, cannot be established
with any degree of certainty, by any rule which I have been yet
able to devise ; however, in a future chapter, when National Music
becomes the principal subject of discussion, a farther investigation
of these characters will be attempted.
The harp was no less in favour with the Saxons and Danes than
with the Britons ; and historians never fail to point out the
fragments of heroic songs which were sung to it for the victory
obtained by Athelstan in 938, and on the death of Edgar 975,
which are recorded in the Saxon Chronicle. Nor is the Saxon poet
Coedmon, of whom Venerable Bede makes such honourable mention,
forgotten, any more than the musical abilities of our great Alfred,
and the romantic use he made of them, in gaining admission as
a harper, or minstrel, into the Danish camp.
The northern annals abound with pompous accounts of the
honours conferred on music by princes who were themselves
proficients in the art, and the Cambro-British institutes, with laws
and privileges in favour of its professors. As the first musician, or
Bard, was the eighth officer in dignity at the court of the Welsh
kings, and had a place in the royal hall next to the steward of the
household, so the respect and dignity with which Bards in general
were treated about this time, in all the courts of Europe, were equal
to those which Homer tells us their predecessors, Demodocus and
Phemius, enjoyed in Greece. Music was now a regal accomplish-
ment, as we find by all the ancient metrical romances and heroic
narrations in the new formed languages of the times; and to sing to
the Harp was necessary to a perfect prince, and complete hero:y
Eustace, or Wace, the author of Le Brut d'Angleterre, or "me
Metrical History of Brutus, the pretended founder of the British
nation, represents Gabbet, one of our kings, as the most able
musician of his time : one who
De tous estrumens sot maistrie Ev'iy instrument could play,
Si sot de touts chanterie, And in sweetest manner sing,
Molt sot de lais, molt sot de notes, &c. Chanting forth each kind of lay.,
To the sound of pipe or string.
(£) Leges Wattica.
(q) In Praf. ad Gram. Brit.
(r) See above p. 486, where a specimen of this notation is given.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The poet afterwards specifies six of the instruments upon which
the British monarch could perform, in the following rhymes :
De vieles sot et de rote, He to psaltry, viol rote,
De karpe sot et de chorum. Chorus, harp, and lyre could sing;
De lire, et de psalterium : And so sweet was ev'ry note
Por ce qu'il ot de chant tel sens. When he touch'd the trembling string,
Disoient la gent en son terns, That with love and zeal inflam'd,
Que il est dieux des jongliours, All who join'd the list'ning throng,
Et dieux de tous les chanteours, &c. Him with ecstacy proclaim'd
God of minstrels, god of song.
But it is ever with Music as with other arts,
The less the public understand
The more they admire the slight of hand (s).
The first Greek musicians were Gods; the second, Heroes; the
third, Bards; the fourth, Beggars ! During the early times of music,
in every country, the wonder and affections of the people have
been gained by surprize; but when musicians became numerous,
and the art was regarded of easier acquirement, they lost their
favour, and from being seated at the table of kings, and helped to
the first cut, they were reduced to the most abject state, and ranked
among rogues and vagabonds*
The fluctuating favour of minstrelsy in ENGLAND very much
resembles that of France, of which the reader has already had an
account in the present chapter: I shall, however, give a summary
of its progress and encouragement during the first dawning of our
literature, avoiding every circumstance that does not necessarily
appertain to my subject; for the formation of our language as been
so amply traced by Dr. Johnson, in the History of it prefixed to
his Dictionary, that I have neither courage nor inclination to
meddle with it; and the late judicious and diligent enquiries into
the early state of our poetry, by Dr. Percy, Mr. Warton, and the
Editor of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, have left me no excuse for
entering upon that ground, unless in pursuit of my own game. But
though I may sometimes have hunted on the same manor as these
excellent literary sportsmen, and during the chace have accidentally
run into them; yet the chief objects oi our pursuits have been
extremely different Indeed Music and Poetry, during the infancy
of their cultivation, in every country, are so closely connected, that
it is impossible to speak of one without the other; yet in proportion
as those arts advance towards perfection, they will not only become
more and more independent, but have a legislation and a language
of their own, which will severally furnish their historians with
sufficient employment, without seeming to encroach upon each
other.
We are certain that British Harpers were famous long before
the Conquest, and the bounty of our first Norman sovereign to his
Joculator, or Bard, is recorded in Doomsday-book (f); nor should
that of Henry the Third be forgotten, who, in the thirty-sixth year
(s) See Book i, p. 161.
See S^0SSf ' Ben3iC' JocMor *«fc.*«fc* 2i- >«« * « v. car, nil redd.
648
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
of his reign, not only gave forty shillings and a pipe of wine to
Richard, his Harper, but another pipe of wine to Beatrice, the
Harper's wife (u). All our most ancient poems, whatever was
their length, were sung to the harp on Sundays, and on public
festivals (x). Yet in the legendary life of St. Christopher (y), written
about the year 1200, we find mention made of the fiddle:
Cristofre hym served longe;
The kynge loved meloyde of fithele and of songe (z).
The harp however seems for many ages to have been the
favourite instrument of the inhabitants of this island, whether
under British, Saxon, Danish, or Norman kings. Many disgraceful
circumstances are blazoned of the poor Minstrels; it is therefore but
just to relate those that redounded to their honour, and the
Chronicle of Walter Hemin^ (a) furnishes an incident that well
deserves to be recorded.
Edward the First, according to this historian, about the year
1271, a short time before he ascended the throne, took his harper
with him to the Holy Land; and this musician must have been a
close and constant attendant on his master, for when Edward was
wounded with a poisoned knife at Ptolemais; the harper, Cithar&da
suus, hearing the struggle, rushed into the royal apartment, and
killed the assasin (&).
The learned and pious Grosteste, Bishop of Lincoln, who died
in 1253, is said, in some verses of Robert de Brunne, who flourished
about the beginning of the next century, to have been very fond
of the metre and music of the Minstrels. The good prelate had
written a poem in the Romanse language, called Manuel Peche,
which Robert de Brunne translated into English, with a design, as
he tells us himself, that it should be sung to the harp at public
entertainments.
For lewed (c) men I undertoke
In Englishe tonge to make this boke,
For many beyn of suche manere
That talys and rymys wyle blithly here,
In gamys and festy's at the ale
Love men to listene trotonale (d).
(«) Rot. Pip. an. 36 Sen. III. Et in uno dolio vini emplo et dato Ma&stro Ricnardo
Citharista Regis, xl. sol. per. Br. Reg. Et. in uno dolio empto et dato Beatrict uxori ejusdem
Ricardi.
(*) See Warton's Hist. Engl. Poetry, vol. i. p. 12. 18, and elsewhere.
(y) MS. Vemon, Bodl. Lib. i 119.
(z) Skinner derives the Anglo Saxon word fithele, from VEDEL and vedele, veU, Dutch,
Fioltne Germ, and all from Fidicula, Lat.
(«) Cap. xxxv. p. 591. apud. v. Histor. Anglic. Scriptor, vol. ii. Oxon. 1687. Fol.
(6) This signal service from his Bard did not, however, incline the monarch afterw;
ire his brethren in Wales. See Grey's Ode, "Ruin seize thee, ruthless king!"
(c) Laymen, ignorant. (<*) Troth and all.
649
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The following anecdote concerning the love which his author,
bishop Grosteste had for music, seems to merit a place here, though
it is related in rude rhymes.
Y shall you tell as I have herd
Of the byshop Seynt Roberd,
Hys toname (e) is Grosteste
Of Lyncolne, so leyth the geste,
He loved moche to here the Harpe,
For mans witte yt makyth sharpe
Next hys chamber, besyde his study,
Hys Harper's chamber was fast the by.
Many tymes, by nightes and dayes,
He had solace of notes and layes,
One askede hem the reson why
He hadde delyte in Mynstrelsy?
He answerde hym on this manere
Why he helde the Harpe so dere.
" The virtu of the Harpe, thurgh skyle and ryght,
Wyll destrye the f endys (/) myght ;
And to the cros by gode skeyl
Ys the Harpe ylykened weyl.
Thirefore, gode men, ye shall lere,
When ye any Gleman (g) here,
To worshepe God at your power,
And Davyd in the Sauter (h).
Yn harpe and tabour and symphan (t) gle
Worship God in trumpes and sautre :
In cordes, yn organes, and bells ringyng,
Yn all these worship the hevene Kyng, &c."
In pursuing the history of English Minstrels I am frequently
obliged to recount circumstances which have lately been rendered
familiar to many of my readers; but these circumstances are such
as seem so naturally to belong to my work, that those who peruse
it would have cause to complain should they be put to the trouble
of seeking them elsewhere. There are certain events which every
writer must relate, however they may have lost the charms of
novelty by frequent repetition ; for by omitting them he would bft
equally absurd with that historian, who in writing the annals of
Charles the First, should suppress the circumstance of that
unfortunate prince's decapitation, because it has been already so
often related (ft).
A singular privilege granted to itinerant musicians of the lowest
class, during the time of Chester fair, is of this kind, and though
well known is too important to be omitted.
(e) Surname. (/) Fiends, the devils,
(g) Harper, minstrel. (h) Psalter.
(0 Symphony.
(k) A French writer, M. -de la Beaumelle, says of his bons mofc, that though they have
been often .said, they are still good things to say. Mes Pensee*.
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
The Midsummer fair at Chester, from the vicinity of that city to
Ireland and Wales, has long supported its reputation by the
amusement it affords to the neighbouring gentry, and the profits
accruing to traders, who assemble there from all parts of his
majesty's dominions. The institution of this fair is traced up to
the time of Edward the Confessor, when Leofric, earl of Chester,
among other grants in favour of the Abbey of St. Werburg, in that
city, established a fair on the festival to the saint to whom it was
dedicated, and in his honour ordained that the persons of whatever
vagabonds, or even culprits, should assemble there during that
solemnity, should be safe, provided they were guilty of no new
offence.
Which special privilege, say the authors from whom I extract
the following account (/), as in process of time it drew an
extraordinary confluence of loose people thither at that season, so
it happened to be of singular advantage to Randal, one of the
succeeding earls ; who, in 1212, during the reign of King John,
being suddenly besieged by the Welsh in Rhydland, or Rothelan
Castle, in -Flintshire, was relieved, rather by their number and
appearance than prowess, under the conduct of Robert de Lacy,
constable of Chester, who, with pipers and other kinds of minstrels
assembled them together, and marching towards the castle, so
terrified the Welsh that they instantly fled. " In memory of which
notable exploit, that famous meeting of such minstrels hath been
duly continued to every Midsummer fair, at which time the heir of
Hugh deDutton, accompanied with diverse gentlemen, having a penon
of his aims born before him by one of the principal Minstrels, who
also weareth his surtout, first rideth up to the east gate of the city,
and there causing proclamation to be made that all the Musicians
and Minstrels within the County Palatine of Chester do approach and
play before him. Presently so attended herideth to St. John's Church,
and having heard Solemn Service, proceedeth to the place for
keeping of his court, where the steward having called every
Minstrel, impanelleth a jury, and giveth his charge : first, to enquire
of any treason against the King or Prince (as Earl of Chester) ;
secondly, whether any man of that profession hath * exercised his
Instrument ' without licence from the lord of that court, or what
misdemeanour he is guilty of ; and thirdly, whether they have heard
any language amongst their fellows, tending to the dishonour of
their lord and patron, the heir of Button. Which privilege was
anciently so granted by John de Lacy, Constable of Chester, son
and heir to the before specified Roger, unto John de Dutton and his
heirs, by a special charter in these words, Magisterium omnia
liccatorum et meretricum totius Cestrishire, And hath been thus
exercised time out of mind. " •
This privilege has been confirmed to the Dutton family in a
statute so late as the 17th of George the II. cap. 5. where exceptions
are made in favour of him and his heirs " concerning the liberty,
(I) See Dugdale's Baronage, vol. i. p. 42, 101. Sir Peter Leycester's Antiq. of Cheshire,
part ii., chap. 6, but chiefly Daniel King's Vale Royal of Eng., illustrated, part li. p. 29.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
privilege, pre-eminence, authority, jurisdiction, or inheritance,
which they, their heirs or assigns now lawfully use, or have, or
lawfully may or ought to use within the county palatine of Chester,
and county of Chester, or either of them, by reason of any ancient
charters of any kings of frig land, or by reason of any prescription
or lawful usage or title whatsoever."
Dr. Plot, in his History of Staffordshire, has minutely related
the origin and effects of another ancient and curious though
barbarous privilege in favour of English Minstrels, granted by John
of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, at his castle of Tutbury in the year
1381, at the inauguration of the first English King of the Minstrels
(m).
•••x" The account is long, and yet I should be unwilling to abridge
it, though I can but ill spare the room it will occupy.
" During the time of which ancient earls and dukes of Lancaster,
who were ever of the blood royal, great men in their time, and had
their abode, and kept a liberal hospitality here, at their honour of
Tutbury, there could not but be a general concourse of people from
all parts hither ; for whose diversion all sorts of Musicians were
permitted likewise to come to pay their services ; amongst whom,
being numerous, some quarrels and disorders now and then arising,
it was found necessary, after a while, they should be brought under
rules, divers laws being made for the better regulating of them, and
a governour appointed them by the name of a KING, who had
several officers under him to see the execution of those laws, full
power being granted them to apprehend and arrest any such
Minstrels appertaining to the said honour, as should refuse to do
their services in due manner, and to constrain them to do them ; as
appears by the charter granted to the said King of the Minstrels, by
John of Gaunt, King of Castile and Leon, and Duke of Lancaster,
bearing date the 22d of August, in the 4th year of the reign of King
Richard II. entituled Carta le Roy de Minstralae, which being
written in old French, I have here translated, and annexed it to this
discourse, for the more universal notoriety of the thing, and for
satisfaction how the power of the King of the Minstrels, and his
officers is founded ; which take as follows :
" John, by the grace of God, King of Castile and Leon, Duke of
Lancaster, to aU them who shall see or hear these our letters,
greetings — Know ye, we have ordained, constituted, and assigned
to our well-beloved the King of the Minstrels in our honour of
Tutbury, who is, or for the time shall be, to apprehend and arrest
all the Minstrels in our said honour and franchise, that refuse to do
the services and Minstrelsy as appertain to them to do from ancient
(m) Du Cange gives several more early instances of Minstrels having arrived at the
honour of sovereignty in France : particularly Jean Charmtilans Rex Juglatotorum at Troyes
in Champagne, 1296. Robert Cavaron, Roi des Menestriers du Royaume de France. 1338: and
rS*£#m *?P andi^' Co}inA? *'%*? ?<?" ** Menestriers du Royaume de France.
ftyfirfiST ^lls *7° ^^^P^ne Regts Johannis, A.D. 1367. Pour un* COURONNE
& ARGENT quit donna le Jour de la. Ti^hame au Roi des Menestricrs. And one about six
years later than .John i of Gait's inslitur^n is mentioned in Rymer, torn. VII. p 555? whS
countries!. g Minstrels, condescends to supplicate for leave to visit foreign
652
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
times at Tutbury aforesaid, yearly on the days of the Assumption
of our Lady ; giving and granting to the said King of the Minstrels
for the time being, full power and commandment to make them
reasonably to justify, and to constrain them to do their services,
and Minstrelsies, in manner as belongeth to them, and as it hath been
there, and of ancient times accustomed. In witness of which thing
we have caused these our letters to be made patent. Given under
our privy seal, at our castle of Tutbury, the 22d day of August, in
the 4th year of the reign of the most sweet King Richard the II."
" Upon this, in process of time, the defaulters being many, and
the amercements by the officers perhaps not sometimes
over-reasonable, concerning which, and other matters, controversies
frequently arising ; it was at last found necessary that a court should
be erected to hear plaints, and determine controversies between
party and party, before the steward of the honour, which is held
there to this day on the morrow after the Assumption, being the
16th day of August ; on which day they now also do all the services
mentioned in the aboyesaid grant, and have the bull due to them
anciently from the Prior of Tutbury, now from the Earl of Devon ;
whereas they had it formerly on the Assumption of our Lady, as
appears by an Inspeximus of King Heniy the VI. relating to the
customs of Tutbury, where amongst others, this of the bull is
mentioned in these words : ' Item est ibidem quaedam consuetudo
quod histriones venientes ad matutmas in festa Assumptions
beatae Mariae, habebunt unum Taurum de Priore de Tuttebury, si
ipsum capere possunt citra aquam Dove propinquiorem Tuttebury ;
vel prior dabit eis 40d. proqua quidam consuetudine dabuntur
domino ad dictum festom annuatim 20d.' i.e. that there is a certain
custom belonging to the honour of Tutbury, that the Minstrels who
came to Matins there on the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed
Virgin, shall have a bull given them by the prior of Tutbury, if
they can take him on this side of the River Dove, which is next
Tutbury ; or else the prior shall give them 40d. for the enjoyment of
which custom they shall give to the lord, at the said feast, yearly 20d.
" Thus, I say, the services of the Minstrels were performed, and
privileges of the Bull enjoyed anciently on the feast of the
Assumption ; but now they are done and had in the manner
following: on the court day, or morrow of the Assumption, being
the 16th of August, what time all the Minstrels within the honour
come first to the bailiff's house of the manner of Tutbury (who is
now the Earl of Devonshire), where the steward for the court to be
holden for the King, as Duke of Lancaster (who is now the Duke of
Ormond), or his deputy meeting them, they shall go from thence to
the parish church of Tutbury, two and two together, music playing
before them, the King of the Minstrels for the year past, walking
between the steward and the bailiff, or their deputies ; the four
stewards or under officers of the said King of the Minstrels, each
with a white wand in their hands, immediately following them, and
then the rest of the company in order. Being come to the church,
653
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
the vicar reads them divine service, choosing psalms and lessons
suitable to the occasion. The Psalms when I was there, An. 1680,
being the 98th, 149th, 150th ; the first Lesson 2 Chron. V ; and the
second the Vth. chap, of the Epistle to the Ephesians, to the 22d
verse. For which service every Minstrel offered one penny, as a
due always paid to the vicar of the church of Tutbuiy, upon this
solemnity.
" Service being ended, they proceed in like manner as before
from the church to the castle hall or court ; where the steward, or
his deputy, taketh his place, assisted by the Bailiff or his deputy,
the King of the Minstrels sitting between them ; who is to oversee
that every Minstrel dwelling within the honour and making default,
shall be presented and amerced ; which that he may the better do
An 0 Yes, is then made by one of the officers, being a minstrel,
three times, giving notice by direction from the steward, to all
mannerof Minstrels dwelling within lie honour of Tutbury, viz. within
the counties of Stafford, Derby, Nottingham, Leicester, and Warwick,
owing suit and service to his Majesty's Court of Musick here holden
as this day, that every man draw near and give his attendance upon
pain and peril that may otherwise ensue ; and that if any man will
be essoined of suit or plea, he, or they, should come in, and they
should be heard. Then all the Musicians being called over by a
court-roll, two juries are impanelled, out of twenty-four of the
sufficientest of them, twelve for Staffordshire, and twelve for the
other counties ; whose names being delivered in court to the steward,
and called over, and appearing to be full juries, the foreman of
each is sworn, and then the residue, as is usual in other courts upon
the Holy Evangelists.— Then, to move them the better to mind
their duties to the King, and their own good, the steward proceeds
to give them their charge: first commending to their consideration
the original of all music, both wind and string music, the antiquity
and excellency of both, setting forth the force of it upon the
affections, by divers examples ; how the use of it has always been
allowed (as is plain from Holy Writ) in praising and glorifying God ;
and the skill in it always esteemed so considerable, that it is still
accounted in the schools one of the liberal arts, and allowed in all
Godly Christian commonwealths ; where by the way he commonly
takes notice of the statute, which reckons some Musicians amongst
rogues and vagabonds, giving them to understand that such societies
as theirs, thus legally founded and governed by laws are by no
means intended by that statute, for which reason the Minstrels
belonging to the manor of Button, in the county palatine of Chester
are expressly excepted in that act. Exhorting them upon this
account, to preserve their reputation, to be very careful to make
choice of such men to be officers amongst them, as fear God, are
of good life and conversation, and have knowledge and skill in the
practice of their art. Which charge being ended, the jurors proceed
to the election of the said officers, the King being to be chosen out
of the four stewards of the preceding year, and one year out of
Staffordshire, and two out of Derbyshire, three being chosen by the
$54*
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
jurors, and the four by him that keeps the court, and the deputy
steward, or clerk.
" The jurors departing the court for this purpose, leave the
steward with his associates still in their places, who in the mean
time make themselves merry with a banquet, and a noise of
musicians playing to them, the old King still sitting between the
steward and bailiff as before ; but returning again after a competent
time, they present first their chiefest officer by the name of their
King ; then the old King arising from his place, delivereth him a
little white wand in token of his sovereignty, and then taking a cup
filled with wine, drinketh to him, wishing him all the joy, and
prosperity in his office. In the like manner do the old stewards
to the new, and then the old King riseth, and the new taketh his
place, and so do the new stewards of the old, who have full power
and authority by virtue of the king's steward's warrant, directed
from the said court, to levy and destrain in any city, town corporate,
or in any place within the king's dominions, all such fines and
amercements as are inflicted by the said juries that day upon any
Minstrel, for his or their offences, committed in the breach of any
of their ancient orders made for. the good rule and government
of the said society. For which said fines and amercements so
destrained or otherwise peaceably collected, the said stewards are
accountable at every audit ; one moiety of them going to the King's
majesty, and the other the said stewards have for their own use.
" The election, &c., being thus concluded, the court riseth, and
all persons then repair to another fair room, within the castle, where
a plentiful dinner is prepared for them, which being ended, the
Minstrels went anciently to the abbey-gate, now to a little barn
by the town-side, in acceptance of the Bull to be turned forth to
them, which was formerly done (according to the custom above
mentioned) by the prior of Tutbury, now by the Earl of Devonshire;
which Bull, as soon as his horns are cut off, his ears cropt, his tail
cut by the stumple, all his body smeared over with sope, and his
nose blown full of beaten pepper; in short, being made as mad as
it is possible for him to be. After solemn proclamation made by
the steward that all manner of persons give way to the Bull, none
being to come near him by forty feet, any way to hinder the
Minstrels, but to attend his or their own safeties, every one at his
peril. He is then forthwith turned out to them (anciently by the
prior) now by the Lord Devonshire, or his deputy, to be taken by
them, and none other, within the county of Stafford, between the
time of his being turned out to them, and the setting of the sun
tiie same day; which, if they cannot do, but the Bull escapes from
them untaken, and gets over the river into Derbyshire, he remains
still my Lord Devonshire's Bull; but if the said Minstrels can take
him, and hold him so long, as to cut off but some small matter of
his hair, and bring the same to the Mercat cross, in token they
have taken him, the said Bull is then brought to the Bayliff's house
in Tutbury, and there collared and roped, and so brought to the
655
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
bull-ring in the high street, and there baited with dogs. The first
course being allotted for the King; the second for the honour of
the town; and the thii;d for the King of the Minstrels; which after
it is done, the said Minstrels are to have him for their own, and
may sell or kill and divide him amongst them, according as they
shall thinlr good.
" And thus this rustic sport, which they call the bull-running,
should be annually performed by the Minstrels only, but now-a-days
they are assisted by the promiscuous multitude, that flock hither
in great numbers, and are much pleased with it, though sometimes,
through the emulation in point of manhoo.d, that has been long
cherished between the Staffordshire and Derbyshire men, perhaps
as much mischief may have been done in the trial between them,
as in the Jeu de Taureau, or bull-fighting, practised at Valentia,
Madrid, and many other places in Spain, whence perhaps this our
custom of bull-running might be derived, and set up here by John
of Gaunt, who was King of Castile and Leon, and lord of the honour
of Tutbury; for why might not we receive this sport from the
Spaniards, as well as they from the Romans, and the Romans from
the Greeks? Wherein I am the more confirmed, for that the
TavQoxavijyjijcorijttsQae amongst the Thessalians, who instituted this
game, and of whom Julius Caesar learned it, and brought it to
Rome, were celebrated much about the same time of the year our
bull-running is, viz. pridie Idus Augusti, on the 12th of August;
which perhaps John of Gaunt, in honour of the Assumption of
our Lady, being but three days after, might remove to the 15th,
as after-ages did (that all the solemnity and court might be kept
on the same day, to avoid farther trouble) to the 16th of August." (n).
Every lover of Minstrelsy must shudder at the name of Edward
the First,* who so cruelly extirpated the patriotic Bards of Wales;
but patriots are at all times, perhaps, troublesome to kings, and
this martial and political prince seems to have limited his persecution
of Bards to the principality of Wales, for we are told that in
England a MULTITUDE of MINSTRELS attended at his court
at ttie solemn ceremony of knighting his son (o).
xJJpwever, in 1315 [1316], during the reign of Edward the
Second, such extensive privileges were claimed by the Minstrels,
and so many dissolute persons assumed their character, that their
conduct became a public grievance, which it was thought necessary
to reform by the following express regulation, which a few years
after was imitated in France (£).
(n) Plott's History of Staffordshire, chap. x. sect. 69.
(£) See above, p. 596.
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
" Edward by the grace of God, &c. to sheriffes, &c. greeting.
Forasmuch as ... many idle persons, under colour of MIN-
STRELSY, and going in messages and other faigned business,
have ben and yet be received in other mens houses to meate and
drynke, and be not therewith contented yf they be not largely
consydered with gyftes of the lordes of the houses, &c. . . . We
wylling to restrayne suche outrageous enterprises and idlenes, &c.
have ordeyned . . . that to the houses of prelates, earls, and barons
none resort to meate and drynke, unlesse he be a Mynstrel, and
of these Mynstrels that there come none except it be three
or four MYNSTRELS OF HONOUR at the most in one day, unlesse
he be desired of the lorde of the house. And to the houses of
meaner men that none come unlesse he be desired; and that such
as shall come so, holde themselves contented with meate and
drynke, and with such curtesie as the maister of the house wyl
shewe unto them of his owne good wyl, without their askyng of
any thyng. And yf any one do against this ordinuance, at the
firste tyme he to lose his MINSTRELSIE, and at the second tyme
to forsweare his craft, and never to be receaved for a MYNSTREL
in any house . . . Yeven at Langley the 6th day of August, in the
9th yere of our raigne (q)."
Stowe, in giving an estimate of the annual expences of the Earl
of Lancaster about this time, assigns a very considerable sum for
the liveries of the Minstrels (r).
The same writer (s) in giving an account of a mummery
exhibition for the entertainment of the young Prince Richard, son
to the Black Prince, on the Sunday before Candlemas, 1377, tells
us that " in the night, one hundred and thirty citizens, disguised
and well horsed, in a mummery, with sound of Trumpets, Sackbuts,
Cornets, Shalmes, and other Minstrels, and innumerable torch lights
of ware, rode from Newgate through Cheape, over the Bridge
through Southwarke, and so to Kennington besides Lambeth, where
the young prince remained with his mother, and the Duke of
Lancaster, his uncle, the Earles of Cambridge, Hertford, Warwicke,
and Suffolke, with divers other lords."
The instruments just mentioned, if well played, were suitable
to a public procession, though they would be rather too powerful
in a room; but a good Concert or Chorus might be made out from
the vocal and instrumental parts mentioned in the Romanse of
the Squire of low Degree, written before the time of Chaucer, and
consequently about the period of Richard the Second's minority.
The King of Hungary, in order to console his daughter for the loss
of her paramour, says,
Ye shall have Harpe, Sautry, and Songe
And other mirthes you amonge.
(q) Hearne's Append, ad Lelandi Collectan. vol. vi. p. 36.'
(r) Survey of London, edit, of 1618, p. 134. (*) P. 148.
Vbl,. i. 42 657
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
And after promising her wine, sweetmeats, and field sports,
returning to Music, he adds:
Than shal ye go to your evensong
With Tenours and Trebles among —
Your quere nor Organ Songe shal want
With Countre note and dyscaunt
The other halfe on Orgayns playing
With young children f ul fayn singing —
From these materials a Band and even Orchestra might be
formed equal to the execution of almost every species of Composition
where Violins are not wanted, especially as he afterwards throws
in a couple of wind instruments : " the Trumpets and Claiyowne."
So that we have now
Treble voices, Counter-tenour, and Tenour,
With the Harp, Psaltry, Trumpet, Clarion, and Organ, for
accompaniment.
We are now arrived at an important period of English
Literature, when CHAUCER, the father of our genuine poetry,
augmented our vocabulary, polished our numbers, and enriched
our knowledge with acquisitions from France and Italy, that were,
perhaps, more useful to our country than the gold to Spain, which
was poured into it by the first discoveries of Mexico and Peru.
Literary plunder seems the most innocent kind of depredation that
can be made upon our neighbours: as they are deprived of nothing
but what they can well spare, and which it is neither dishonour-
able to lose, nor disgraceful to take.
It is in vain to dissemble the wretched state of our literature,
arts, manufactures, and commerce, before the 16th century. So
many ages had passed in subjection to the different powers which
had invaded us from the continent: Romans, Saxons, Danes, and
Normans, enslaving us by turns, had found us other employments
than the care of refining our language, or cultivating the arts of
peace: and when we had freed ourselves from these chains, and
might be said to have a language and king of our own, the fatal
factions into which we were divided during the struggles between
the houses of York and Lancaster stopped improvements in all the
arts, except those of vengeance, carnage, and desolation !
This accounts for the slow progress of science and of every art
which is fostered by tranquility, and matured by encouragement;
and whoever looks into the -history of printing in this country,
will be surprised, and, if an Englishman, perhaps mortified, to find
how few original works in our vernacular tongue issued from the
press for more than fifty years after its invention: the chief part
of the books that were printed by Caxton and Wynken de Werde
our farst Typographers, being Latin, French, or Translation (t)
If the Romances of chivalry in verse and prose, which concern
the story of Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, did not
(*) See Ames's Typogiaph. Antiq. Lond. 1749.
65S
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
come originally to us from France, but were carried thither by the
fugitive Britons who took refuge in Armorica or Britany, I fear
our Saxon ancestors in after-times had them back again from their
Gallic neighbours, through the medium of the French language; for
from our long dependence on France, from the Norman partiality,
and indeed from the fashion of the times, which inclined all Europe
to make the Romanse, or rising French language, the general
vehicle of literature, almost all our early productions, particularly
metrical Romances, were Translations from the French. But there
is the less disgrace in this acknowledgement, as it has been the case
with all other countries. The French themselves began to try
their force in their own language by translations from the Latin,
when it was just wearing out as a living language in their own
country, as we did from French, under the like circumstances. The
Germans have but lately formed themselves upon French models,
from Translation; the Spaniards are now in the act. If our first
literature was derived from France, our second was from Italy;
and our third and that of the present times has been drawn from
still purer sources, the classics; from which doubtless the most
enlightened and polished nations of Europe are likewise drawing
as well as ourselves. A literary intercourse with our neighbours
will therefore be reciprocally useful, as long as these fountains are
kept open and accessible. As I should be always ready to claim
any depredations that had been made upon us by the French, so I
shall ever be equally ready to acknowledge our obligations to them
in the infancy of our literature, particularly our Poetry and
Romances : and why should not every Englishman do itt with
equal alacrity? We are not at present in that kind of literary
indigence which makes it an act of necessity to commit such petty
larcenies as these: we are now in circumstances that not only
enable us to be honest, but even generous: as works have been
produced in our language, in almost every species of writing that
the most learned nations of the world have been able to boast.
The most ancient of our poets perhaps that can be read with
pleasure, is CHAUCER, who, as the candid Caxton says, " for
his ornate wrytyng in our tongue, maye well have the name of a
Laureat Poete; for to fore that he, by hys labour, embellyshyd,
ornated, and made faire our Englishe, in thys royame was had
rude speeche, and incongrue, as yet it appiereth by olde bookes,
whyche at thys day ought not to have place, ne be compared
emong ne to his beauteous volumes, and aournate wrytynges, of
whom he made many bokes, and treatyces of many a noble
historye, as wel in metre and ryme as in prose, and them so craftyly
made, that he comprehended hys maters in short, quick, and hye
sentences, eschewing prolygyte, castyng away the chaf of super-
fluyte, and shewyng the pyked grain of sentence, uttered by crafty
and sugred eloquence («*)."
(«) See Ames's Account of the first edition of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, p. 55.
659
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The Parish Clerk's 'instruments, in the same Tale are worthy
of his profession: He
Coud playen Songes on a smale ribible (h);
Therto he song sometime a loud^quinible (i);
And as wel coud he play on a Giterne.
In the Pardonner's Tale, we have the first mention of the Lute,
which I have met with in any English author :
In Flanders whilom was a Campagnie
Of yongfc folk, that haunteden folie,
As hazard, riot, stewes and tavernes;
Whereas with Harp&s, Lutes, and Giternes,
They dance and play, &c.
The lute, however, appears in the Illumination of a MS. at
Oxford, 1200. See (m) 2 Bodl. B. 264. And as the mere outline
of this Tale is to be found in the Cento Novelle Antiche (ft), we
may suppose that instrument to have been then in common use
in England (/).
What Chaucer says in the Prioresses Tale of the " Litel Scole
of Cristen Folk " in Asia, where
— Children learned yere by yere
Swiche manere doctrine as men used there :
This is to say, to singen and to ride. —
Seems merely to imply, that the chants of the church were
taught then in common with reading.
In the Rime of Sire Thopas, as Chaucer is manifestly ridiculing
the marvellous tales of the ancient Jongleours, Gestours, and
Minstrels, he speaks of music and musical instruments in the manner
of the French fabliaux and romances cited above; and here he tells
us, in very plain terms, that the King's jester was orginally neither
a man of wit and humour (like Yorick) nor a Jack-pudding or
buffoon (like the King's fool in Lear), but a diseur, an heroic story-
teller, a relater of the gestes, deeds, and adventures of knights and
illustrious champions.
Do come, he sayd, my ministrales,
And gestours for to tellen tales. —
In his Nonnes Preestes Tale of the Cock and the Fox, speaking
of his hero, Chaunticlere, he tells us that
His vois was merrier than the mery orgon (m),
On massfc days that in the churches gon.
(ft) The dimunitive of Rebec, a small viol with three strings.
(t) It seems as if this good Clerk had preserved the ancient manner of singing by 5ths,
expressed by Hie verb Quintoier.
(k) Nov. bcxxii.
(J) It is again mentioned in the Manciple's Tale, V. 17217, Edit, of 1775.
(m) From Organa, Lat. and Orgues, Fr. The description of the cock's vocal abilities was
probably intended as a sarcasm on the fine singers of the times.
$62
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
Which is a proof that organs were very general in our abbeys and
cathedrals at the latter end of the fourteenth century. Chaucer,
could he have found a rhyme, would probably have written Organs
in the plural, as the French still do, and as he himself has^done
in the second Nonnes Tale, which follows; where, in the History
of St. CECILIA, we have the two following lines :
And While that Organs maden melodie,
To God alone thus in hire hert song she.
It was natural to expect, in the life of this titular and pious
patroness of Music, that some farther mention would be made of
her own performance, or at least protection of the art; but neither
in Chaucer, nor in any of the Histories or legendary accounts of
this saint which I have been able to consult, does any thing
appear that can authorise the religious veneration which the votaries
of Music have so long paid to her; nor is it easy to discover whence
it has arisen. Chaucer's account is almost literally translated from
the life of St. Cecilia, in the Legenda Aurea of Jacobus Januensis.
Bede in his Ecclesiastical History (n), mentions her church at
Rome, as the place where Vilbrod was ordained Pope in 696; and
in his Martyrology, he tells us, that her intended spouse, Valerian,
and his brother Tiburtius, suffered martyrdom in the time of the
Emperor Alexander Severus. Mabillon (o) has proved, that the
festival of this saint was celebrated in France before the time ol
Charlemagne, by a Galilean Missal, which he has published, and
which must have been in use before the Gregorian chant was
received in that country (p). Fortunatus of Poitiers, (q) the most
ancient author who speaks of her, says, that she died, or rather
suffered martyrdom in Sicily. Fortunatus wrote at the end of the
sixth century; but even this was at too remote a period from that
in which tradition tells us the saint lived, as Alexander Severus
reigned from 194 to 211.
There was a great Festival at Rome in 1599, during the
pontificate of Clement VIII. for the finding the body of St. Cecilia
among other relics. Cardinal Baronius, who was himself a
witness of this Transaction, has left an ample account of it (r).
But to return to Chaucer: in his Persones Tale, the good
priest says, " Wei may that man that no good werk ne doth, sing
this new Frenshe song, J'ay tout perdu mon temps, et mon labour."
What where the other lines of the song, or by whom it was
written or composed, the commentators do not inform us, though
Chaucer has introduced the same initial verse in his Balade to
(») Lib. v. cap. 2.
(o) De Liturgia Gallicana, p. 175.
'(*) Cardinal Bona, De divina Psalmod, says, that the MS. of this Mass, which was in the
possession of the late Christina, Queen of Sweden, had belonged to the learned Patavius, and
was written in the ninth century, as was discovered by the learned from the square form of
the letters and the capitals.
(q) Lib. vii. cap. 4.
(r) Voyez la Vic des Saints, Tom. 3t. 3 Edit. fol. p. 369. Par. 1715.
663
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Fortune : however it was doubtless well known at the time, or he
would not have made so grave and respectable a character point
it out to such a mixed company as the pilgrims he has assembled
together.
Chaucer's Romaunt of the Rose, is only a Translation of a part
of the celebrated allegorical and satyrical Poem, called, le Roman
de la Rose, which was begun by William de Lorris, who, according
to Fauchet, died about the year 1260, and finished by Jean de
Meun about 1310 (s). His account therefore of the Music which
he heard in the gardens of Mirth, v. 763, however ample, is not
applicable to England. But a passage occurs which is not very
favourable to the Music of France, and for which it is difficult to
account, as it is not to be found in the original; for after describing
a very gay dance to the Carol of Gladness, he says :
There mightest thou se these Flutours,
Minstrallis and eke Jugelours
That wel to singing did their pain
Some songen songes of Loraine;
For in Loraine their Not&s be
Ful sweter than in this Contre.
What reason the Bard had for his partiality to the songs of
Lorraine, I know not; as neither the national Music of that
Country, nor the superior learning and abilities of its Musicians at
any period of time, has ever arrived at my knowledge.
In his Troilus and Cresseide, Chaucer (t) advising the timid
lover to send his Mistress a letter, gives an excellent lesson, both
to him and the Musician, against prolixity and repetition.
— And if thou write a godely word all soft,
Tho' it be gode, reherce it not too oft.
For though that the best Harper upon live,
Would on the bestfe sounid jolly Harpe,
That evir was, with all his fingirs five,
Touche aie o string, or aie o warble Harpe, (u)
Were his nailis poincted never so sharpe,
It shuldfc makin every wight to dull,
To hear his gle, and of his strokis full.
It has been observed (x) that this Poem, though almost as long
as the jEneid, was intended to be sung to the Harp, as well as read :
And redde whereso thou be, or ellis songe (y).
U) The original consists of 22734 lines, of which John de Meun was author of only the
first 4149. Chaucer's whole translation is comprised in 7698 verses.
(t) L. 2. v. 1028.
UPOn "" ""» passw' In
(*} Hist. Eng. Poetry, vol. i. p. 388.
(y) L. ult v. 1796.
664
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
Though no English Music in parts is preserved, so ancient as
the time of Chaucer, yet by the manner in which he describes a
Concert of Birds (z) -full services seem then to have been common.*
And everiche song in his wise
The most swete, and solempne servise
By note, that evir man I trowe
Had herde, for some of 'hem songe lowe,
Some high, and all of one accorde. —
In the third Book of his House of Fame, Chaucer bestows near
sixty lines in describing Music, Musicians, and Musical Instruments
(a) : The whole passage is curious to a Musical enquirer, and
deserves a comment : but it would occupy more space than can be
spared in this chapter, of which poetical concerns have perhaps
already had too considerable a share. I shall, therefore, only add
a few words on his Songs, or Balades, which must have been
originally intended for Music. And though many short poems of
this kind were ascribed to him, which it would be difficult to prove
of his writing, yet he tells us himself (6) that he had made
Many an Hymne, for your holy dales
That highten balades, rondils, virelaies,—
— And hath made many a ley, and many a thing.
Both Gower, his Master, and Lydgate, his scholar, speak of his
songs of various kinds; and Gower puts the following eulogium of
his Love Songs into the mouth of Venus:
Of Ditees and of Songes glade,
The which he for my sak£ made,
The Londe fulfilled is over all (c).—
And Lygate, in the prologue to his Translation of the Fall of
Princes, has the following stanza on his songs :
This saied Poete my Master in his dayes
Made and compiled ful many a fresh Dite,
Complaintes, Ballades, Roundels, Virelaies ;
Ful delectable to herin and to se,
For which men shulde of right and equit&.
Sith he of English in making was the best,
Pray em to God to yeve his soul good rest.
(z] Dream of Chaucer, v. 391.
(a] See Urry's Edit. p. 466, from v. 10? to 164.
(&) Legende of Code Women, v. 422.
(c) Confessio amant.
* There is a number of pieces of English music in parts. The Rota Burner is icumen in
was, of course, known to Burney, but he puts the date of this work much later than is now
accepted. Apart from this there may be mentioned a beautiful "Salve virgo in 3 parts and
also the Angelus ad virginem which Chaucer mentions in the Canterbury Tales (The Prologue).
Both these are given in the Oxford History of Music, Vol. I., pp. 166 and 311.
In the Cambridge University MS. 1354 (Ff. vi. 16) and MS. 1940 (Kk. i. 6) there are some
pieces for three voices and in the Bodleian Library (MS. ?E, Musaeo) there is a piece in four
parts. The date of these MSS* is about the middle of the I4th cent.
See Sir John Stainer's Early Bodleian Music for further examples.
6ft
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Stowe collected many of the Ballads that went under Chaucer's
name, which were printed in the edition of 1561 ; and John Shirley,
in 1440, made a large collection of Songs, by Chaucer, Gower,
Lydgate, and others, which are still extant in the Ashmolean
Collection at Oxford ; (d) but none of the tunes to these are
preserved ; nor have I ever been so fortunate as to meet with a
single tune to an English Song, or Dance, in all the Libraries and
MSS. which I have consulted, so ancient as the 14th century (e).
Musical Tracts, indeed, and Ecclesiastical Chants abound of that and
a still higher period ; but till the beginning of the 15th century, all
our secular music has perished.* However, if we may judge by
what has escaped the ravages of time, of a later date, the loss of
our musical compositions of this period may be supported without
much affliction. We may perhaps heighten that affliction
considerably by censuring modem refinements, and extolling the
charms of ancient simplicity ; but simplicity in melody, beyond a
certain limit, is unworthy of the name that is bestowed upon it, and
encroaches so much upon the rude and savage boundaries of
uncouthness and rusticity, as to be wholly separated from proportion
and grace, which should alone characterise what is truly simple in
all the arts : for though they may be ennobled by the concealment
of labour and pedantry, they are always degraded by an alliance
with coarse and barbarous nature.
All our early poets, and Chaucer particularly, seem to have
received great pleasure from the music of their time, whatever it
was, and never lose an opportunity of describing its beauties and
effects (/); but Examples of the melodies of our old Songs, our
popular tunes, and our counterpoint, if we had them to exhibit,
would give the musical reader a more perfect idea of their merit,
than all that the most minute descriptions can do, either in prose or
verse. Such examples are, however, very difficult to find ; and
when found, still more difficult to decypher.
At the coronation of Henry V. in 1413, we hear of no other
instruments than harps : but one of that prince's historians (g) tells
us, that their number in the hall was prodigious. Henry, however,
though a successful hero, and a conqueror, did not seem to take
the advantage of his claim to praise ; and either was so modest, or
so tasteless, as to discourage and even prohibit the poets and
(d) A Boke deped the Abstracte Brevyarie, compyled of divers balades, roundels virelays
tragedyes, envoys, complaintes, moralities, &c., collected by John Shirley. Ashmol, 59, ii. vide
Tann. Biblioth. p. 668.
(e) Mr. Warton, Hist. Eng. Poet vol. i. p. 26. has given a very ample account of a MS
?2H?ctJSn iof the ^J08* a?*611* sons5 in our language, which is preserved in the British Museum.
MSS. Harl. 2253, but without Music.
m See (^ncefrs Contention between the Cuckow and the Nightingale, and the Flower
and the Leaf, besides the Poems already mentioned, for passages concerning Music.
($) Thomts de Ebnkam Vit. et Gest. Hen. V. edit Hearne, Oxon, 1727, cap. xii. p. 23.
. *•
666
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
musicians from celebrating his victories, and singing his valiant
deeds. When he entered .the city of London, after the Battle^ of
Agincourt, the gates and streets were hung with tapestry, representing
the history of ancient heroes ; and children were placed in
temporary turrets, to sing verses. But Henry, disgusted at these
vanities, commanded, by a formal edict, that for the future, no songs
should be recited by Harpers, or others, in honour of the recent
victory (h). It seems, however, the business of a hero, after
becoming a subject of praise, to receive it with a good grace ; and
Poetry and Music are perhaps never better employed than in
expressions of national joy and gratitude for the safety of the state,
and defeat of its foes, by which tranquillity is restored, and attention
secured to the arts of peace.
It is somewhat extraordinary, that in spite of Henry's edicts, and
prohibitions, the only English song of so early a date, that has come
to my knowledge, of which the original music has been preserved,
is one that was written on his victory at Agincourt in 1415. It is
preserved in the Pepysian Collection at Magdalen College,
Cambridge, and has been printed in the second volume of the
Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. The transcribers of ancient
MSS. seem in general to have been utterly ignorant of Music, and so
indifferent as to the place and form of Notes as to have made them
unintelligible ; and indeed, though I made a journey to Cambridge,
in order to see the original Music of the song which had been
transcribed for the Reliques of Ancient Poetry, it was not till after I
had tried to write it many different ways that I was able to
disentangle the parts, and form it into a score (i).
The Copy in the Pepysian Collection is written upon Vellum in
Gregorian Notes, and can be little less ancient than the event which
it recorded. There is with it a paper which shews that an attempt
was made in the last century to give it a modern dress ; but too
many liberties have been taken with the melody, and the drone base
which has been set to it for the Lute is mere jargon. I shall therefore
present my reader with a faithful copy of this venerable relic of our
nation's prowess and glory, in the beginning of the fifteenth century,
from which we are perhaps entitled to more honour than from the
poetry and Music with which they were then celebrated.*
(li) "Cantus dc suo triumpho fieri, seu per Citharistas, vel alios quoscunque. Canton,
penitus prohibebat." ib. p. 71. And Hcernii Preefat p. xxix. seq. § viii. See also Hollingsh.
Chron. iii. p. 556, col. i. 40.
(i) Since my journey to Cambridge, Mr. Stafford Smith has given an accurate copy of
this composition in his "Collection of ancient English Songs, for three and four voices in score,"
which, if I had been so fortunate as to have seen before I visited the University, would have
saved me much trouble. Indeed, specimens of Musical compositions at such an early period, are
so scarce, and this in particular seems so much to belong to my subject, that a History of
English Music would be deficient without it; and scrupulously to omit all that has previously
been published by others, would be reducing my. book to a mere Supplement. All I can promise
is not to copy with servility, or without examining the original sources of their acquisitions
with my own eyes, which will sometimes perhaps see them in a different light, and occasion a
difference of opinion. The greatest difficulty, till the end of the fifteenth century, is to find
Examples of Composition, which, in the next century, will be so encreased as to perplex by
their multiplicity.
*The MS. in the Pepysian Collection has been lost, but Mr. Fuller Maitiand has
demonstrated that it was an incomplete copy from a MS. at Trinity College, Cambridge.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
SONG on the Victory obtained at Agincourt, 1415.
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-TO'-
HA
He sette a sege, the sothe to say,
To Harflue town, with royal array,
That toune he wan, and made .a fray,
That Fraunce shall rywe tyl domes day.
Deo gratias, &c.
Than for sothe that knyzt comely,
In Agincourt feld fauzt manly,
Thorow grace of God most myzty.
He had bothe felde, and victory.
Deo gratias, &c.
. (k) It would have answered the expectation of a modern ear better, if this and the next F
Had. been sharp.
(Q A sharp seems wanting to this G.
* had
C in the
fetJ&L 3£e co-mposiSon ^SP* place
between the voice part and the accompaniment;
to authorise a change.
, there being a succession of three fifths
but I can discover nothing in the manuscript
present
must
668
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
Then went owre kynge, with all his oste. Ther dukys, and earlys, lorde, and barone.
Thorowe Fraunce for aU the Frensshe boste; Were take, and slayne, and that wei sone.
He spared for drede of Leste, ne most And some were ledde into Lundone,
Till he come to Agincourt coste. With joye, and merth, and grete renone.
Deo gratias, &c. Deo gratias, &c.
Now gracious God he save owre kynge,
His peple, and all his well wyllinge;
Gef him gode lyfe, and. gode endynge,
That we with merth may safely synge.
Deo gratias Anglia redde $ro victoria.
The number of tracts that were written on the subject of music,
from the time of John de Muris to the middle of the fifteenth
century, is so considerable, as not only to make us believe that it
was in great favour, but incline us to expect more perfection than we
find in the specimens of composition that have been preserved.
The Speculum Musica of John de Muris, which is only to be
found in the king of France's library at Paris, is a treatise so ample,
that I shall step back a little, in order to give my readers a more
satisfactory account of it than I was able to do when I mentioned
it before, as I have procured large extracts from it, and a complete
table of its contents, since I closed the article in the preceding
chapter concerning this celebrated and voluminous musical writer ;
and shall be the more minute in my account of this scarce MS. as it
seems to have been the ground work of all the musical treatises that
were produced by others writers, till the time of Franchinus Gaforius,
in the latter end of the fifteenth century.
This work, which is written on vellum, in folio, contains six
hundred pages. The first sentence of the original is, " Libro tertio
de Philosophica Consolatione Boetius volens reddere Causam," &c.
It is divided into seven books: the first of which treats of the
invention of music, and of its divisions, and contains seventy-six
chapters ; the second, of musical intervals, an hundred and
twenty-three ; the third, of harmonics, or musical proportion,
fifty-six; fourth, of concords and discords, fifty-one; fifth, of the
ancient tetrachords, division of the monochord, and doctrines of
Boethius, fifty-two chapters ; sixth, of the modes and notation of the
ancients, of the changes made in their system by Guido, and of
the ecclesiastical tones, one hundred and thirteen. Book the
seventh, of measured music ; of discant, in treating of which he has
the chapter de ineptis Discantoribus, part of which has been given
in the preceding chapter ; of the time-table, moods or divisions of
Time, of the folly of placing a tail to the semibreve, by which he
seems to mean the minim, without naming it ; of perfect and
imperfect measures ; and lastly, a parallel between ancient and
modern music, which occupies the last five of the forty-five chapters
into which this book is divided, the concluding sentence of which
is " Exempli causa describere tibi volo quorum figura sunt in hoc
ordine consequentes.
Explicit Tractatus Musica, Magistri
Johannis de Muris."
Notwithstanding all the nice and subtle divisions and subdivisions
of his seven books into nine hundred and seventeen chapters, the
669
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
practical musician would at present profit but little from the study
of them, as almost all the doctrines contained in the first five books
are speculative, and such as may be found in Ptolemy, Boethius,
and other ancient authors, whom almost all the musical writers of
later times have copied in pure pedantry, without understanding
themselves what they read, and, consequently, without conveying
any useful science to their readers by what they have written. It
is only in the two last books that de Muris condescends to speak of
the Practical Music of his own times : in the sixth book he treats
of the Ecclesiastical Tones, Notation, and Chants, which John
Cotton and Walter Odington had done before ; and in the seventh
he defines Cantus Mensurdbilis, Discant, Moods, Characters of the
different duration of Sounds, as the Long, Breve, Semi-breve, and
their perfection and imperfection. Here he employs several
chapters in refuting-such as have disputed his doctrines ; and lastly,
he draws a parallel between the Music of the ancients and that of
the Moderns, in order to ascertain their several degrees of perfection.
It is in mere charity to the curious in Musical Antiquities that
I have bestowed so much pains in examining and describing this
Book; which, though of difficult access, and more difficult perusal,
might tempt them from the celebrity of the Author, to explore its
dark regions, and impair their eyes and patience in search of
scientific treasures, which it does not contain.
A very curious collection of Musical Tracts was preserved
among the MSS. of the Cotton library; but unfortunately they
were nearly destroyed by a fire which happened in 1731, while
Ashburnham House was its repository. Of this collection, consist-
ing of seven treatises in Latin, the late Dr. Pepusch had luckily
procured copies, which are now lodged in the British Museum, as
are fragments of the originals (q).
I shall not be very diffuse in my account of these MSS. as the
chief part of the doctrines they contain, has already been considered
in speaking of the writings of Guido, Franco, Walter Odington,
and others, which are still more ancient. The insertion and
explanation of rules which are no longer worth adopting, and upon
which scarce any of the Music was composed which is now subsist-
ing, would be swelling my volume with that, which if any one
had patience to peruse, could afford neither profit nor pleasure;
and for which the highest reward I could hope, would be the pity
of my readers, for not having found in all my researches any
thing better to give them. Unfortunately it was not here the
custom for writers on Music, to illustrate their rules with examples
of Composition, either by themselves or others; and this omission
has rendered almost every Treatise produced before the sixteenth
century, equally dry and unprofitable with those which are come
down to us of the ancient Greeks and Romans. A commentary
{«) See in the Cat, Dr. Smith's Description of Tiberius, Book IX. The compiler of these
Tracts fe unknown, but the time when they were transcribed is ascertained by the Scribe
himself in a note at tie end of the first tract: ExfiUciunt Regute cum additionibus; finite die
Venens froxvna ante Pentecost, anno Donnm mittessmo tricentisimo vicesimo sexto, et catera,
Amen.
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
therefore upon such works, whatever idea it may impress of an
author's erudition and patience, would be very likely to fright a
reader from attempting the perusal of more interesting and
intelligible parts of the book in which it is inserted, upon a
supposition that the sequel will be equally dark and unintelligible.
Of such musical MSS. therefore as are in our own public
libraries, and of easy access, I shall give a less minute account
than of others preserved on the Continent, which but few may
have opportunities of consulting. However, though it is my
business to spare no trouble myself, it is incumbent upon me to
give my readers as little as possible; I shall therefore point out
the road to such tracts as are most scarce and valuable, in order
that those who wish to know more of their contents than the limits
of my work will allow me to give, may themselves be enabled to
consult the originals.
Among the transcripts from the Cotton MS. No. I. which is a
Commentary upon Franco, by Handlo, has been already described
(r); a considerable part of this tract is still legible in the ancient
Copy (s).
II. Tractatus diversarum Figurarum per quas dulcibus modis
discantantur. This is a compendium apparently of the doctrines of
John de Muris; but in the old copy it was called Tractatus de
Musica, incerto author e. Here the black Minim in the Lozenge
form appears.
III. Pr. " Pro aliquali Notitia de Musica habenda." This
Tract, which is of a considerable length, is likewise anonymous.
The author imitates Boethius, as most musical writers have done
down to the good Padre Martini, in the division of Music into
Mundane, Humane, and Instrumental, as well as in several other
girticulars. This Author uses the same kind of literal notation as
uido, in his Micrologus, before lines were applied to the Ecclesias-
tical Characters. We find in it the fcj and [7 Hexachords; and
Harmonic han.d, with diagrams of the Mutations, seemingly taken
from a treatise in the Bodleian Library, intitied Quatuor principalia
Artis Musica, of which a farther account will be given below. He
compares the Minim to a Unit, as the beginning of measured time;
tells us that Vitriaco was the most famous musician in the whole
world; and speaks of the Semiminim or Crutchetam as a useless
innovation, which he had rejected. We have here an explanation
of the Plica, Ligatures, and six Moods, in imitation, as he says,
of the Roman School, but little differing from those of Franco (£).
However this author confesses, that the five Moods of Franco, and
the six which he exhibits in his work, are all reducible to two,
the perfect and imperfect; or to those as they are now called of
triple and common time. The point is mentioned by this author
as of common use; and the thirds and sixths are both denominated
imperfect Concords. The fourth he ranks among perfect Concords;
though he agrees with the present age in thinking that it has not a
W P. 543- (s) Tiberius, B. IX. (*) See p. 535.
671
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
good effect when used by itself, and requires more than two parts to
be admitted in composition. He forbids the use of Discords, which
proves that their laws were not yet established. He gives rules for
Discant, or extemporaneous Harmony; for written Harmony; and
speaks of the Organ as an Instrument necessary in the Cantus
Ecclesiasticus. The Hocket is described, either as a rest or cutting
a note short, without accelerating the general measure. Staccato,
Sciolto, seem to correspond with this term more than a rest; for
why should a rest in an inward part offend?* And it was severely
censured by grave churchmen about this time (u).
TV. The next Tract in the Cotton MS. is likewise one of three
Musical Treatises contained in another volume of the British
Museum, which formerly belonged to the Monks of St. Edmons-
bury (x). It begins Cognita Modulatione secundum viam octo
Troporum et secundum usum et consuetudinem fidei Catholica. Of
this Tract, which treats very amply of the Cantus Mensurabilis,
and of the chief parts of practical Music then known, the Author
is not named. By the eight tropes he does not mean the eight
modes, or tones of the Church, but eight moods with respect to
time. The author clearly explains the term Organum to imply the
hannonical accompaniment to a chant, as it has been already often
defined in this volume; Discant, Triples, Quadruples, and Copulae,
are treated of in the same manner as by former writers; but of
Discord he is rather more explicit than his predecessors, for he says,
that many good Composers of Hymns, Antiphons, and Organic
Parts, use discords instead of concords, particularly the Musicians
of Lombardy.
V. Consists only of fragments or detached extracts from an
entire treatise. It begins Sequitur de Sinemenis, and explains the
manner in which the Synemmenon Tetrachord is formed. Here
the author speaks of a cross being put to F to obviate the false fifth
between that sound and B. This has been thought the first time
that a sharp has been used; But Marchetto da Padua 200 years
before had used the same expedient. The first sharp was only a
square Q whence B quadrum; then a line was drawn on each
side |sj (y). This character, and the round b, were used for Musica
Ficta, which was another name for Transposition from the natural
scale into such keys as required sounds different from those which
the three hexachords furnished (z).
(«) See above, p. 512. (*) Bibl. Reg. xii. cap. vi. 5, 3.
(y) Prosdocimo and Marchetto use this mark with four points in the middle, for a
sharp b. and the latter sometimes this g.
(z) This was likewise long called Musica falta finta, Colorata, Congiunta, altcrata. See above,
p. 518. And as the Ecclesiastical chants are all confined to such sounds as the different species
of Octave in the key of C or A natural can supply, it is still thought licentious in the
Romish Church to compose in such keys as require fiats and sharps : a restraint that long
extended to secular Music,
* The Hocket was a rest during the singing of a word.
672
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
VI. Is a short tract in which no new doctrines appear; it begins
Est autem unisonus quando dua voces manente uno et eodem loco
sive uno et eodem sono; and treats in a summary way of
Consonances, Discant, and Solmization : illustrating the doctrines
advanced by examples in Notes.
VII. The last Tract beginning Cum in isto tractatu de Signis
sive de Notis qua sunt et de earum proprietatibus, &c. is chiefly
confined to time, Measure, or the relative proportions of such
notes as were then in use. There are duplicates of this and the
preceding tract in the volume already mentioned (a). Minims
appear in this fragment; and at the end there is an old French
Song in two parts: Faus semblant tiel estes vousf already inserted
in the present chapter (6). The words H&c Odyngtonus, written
at the back of this Tract in the Cotton Collection, has inclined
many to believe that Walter Odington, of whom an account has
already been given, was the author of it; but they mean nothing
more than that the doctrine of Walter of Evesham had been
followed by the author: as Secundum Guidonem — Johannem de
Muris — Franconem, &c. has been found to have the same meaning.
The most considerable Musical Tract which I have been able
to find of nearly the same date as the Cotton MS. is a Treatise in
the Bodleian Library at Oxford (c), entitled Quatuor principalia
Artis Musicce, which has been ascribed to several authors. As
this work is written with more clearness and precision, and is of a
greater length than any other that was produced in the fourteenth
century, except the Speculum Musices of John de Muris, I was
very desirous to -discover by whom it was written. Anthony Wood
(d) ascribes it to Thomas Tewksbury, a Franciscan of Bristol, to
whom it is likewise given in the Oxford Catalogue of MSS. for no
other reason that is easy to discover, but that the name of
Tewksbury occurs on an outside leaf. However, there a testimonial
at the end of the Table of Contents, which has helped to fix the
work upon an author of the name of Tewksbury; but this is John
of Tewkesbury, a Friar; who seems only to have presented the book
called the four principles of Music to the Minor Friars of Oxford,
by the Authority and consent of Master Thomas of Kingsbury,
then Magister of all England, in the year 1388 (e). As no person
of the name of Tewkesbury appears in the list of English Musicians
or Musical Writers, if we were reduced to conjecture it might be
imagined from the similarity of names, that John Torksey , a Musical
Author of the same period, had been corrupted into John
Tewkesbury : but there is no occasion for such an expedient, noi
for adopting the opinion of Bishop Tanner, who assigns it to
(a) Tractates Musiri, 3 Bibl. Reg. xii. cap. vi. 6. 182. (&) P. 616.
(c) Digby 90. (d) Hist, and Antiq. Oxon, Lib. ii. p. $.
(e) Ad informationem scire volentibus principia Artis Musica, istum Libellunt aui vocatur
Quatuor principalia Musicee, Prater Johannes de Teukesbury contulit comitatut Fratrum
Minorum Oxoma, auctoritate et assensu Fratris Thomoe de Kyngusbury Magistri tune afagtstn
Anglite. Anno Domini 1388. This advertisement ends, as usual, by anathematising any one
who shall sacrilegiously steal the MS. from the said Minor Friars.
Vor,. i. 43 673
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Dr. John Hambois, a writer on Music, who flourished more than a
century after the time when it appears from the testimony of the
Scribe himself, that the Oxford MS. was finished.*
There is however among the MSS. at Oxford, another Volume
of Musical Tracts (/), which has not been sufficiently examined
by any of the Catalographers who have mentioned it : for upon a
careful perusal and collation, I find in it, besides two other Tracts,
by Simon Tunstede, or Tustede, a duplicate of the Quatuor
Principalia, attributed by some to Thomas or John of Tewksbury,
and by others to Hambois; and as no doubt is thrown upon
Tunstede having been the author of the two first tracts in this
volume, it seems as if we might venture, without hesitation or doubt,
to assign him this ample, and, for the time when it was written,
excellent treatise. That Simon Tunstede was a man of Science, and
an able Musician, as well as a Doctor of Divinity, appears at the
end of MS. Digby, 90 (g). Pits, Bale, Tanner, and all our
Biographical writers speak of him as a learned Musician, and Pits
enumerates the Quatuor Principalia among his writings (h).
The title of the Tracts in the Oxford Catalogue of MSS. has
occasioned the great diversity of opinions about the writer of the
Quatuor Principalia; for No. 515, is entitled De Musica continua
et discreta, cum Diagrammatibus, per Simonem Tunstede, A.D.
1351. However, in the beginning of the volume, the author
proposed to treat De Quatuor principalibus in quibus tocius
Musica radices consistent, &c. which exactly agrees with the other
MS. and there is no difference from the beginning to the end, except
in the omission of a kind of prologue, or argument to the work,
which appears in the Tract ascribed to Tewkesbury (i), beginning
Quemadmodum inter triticum, and is omitted in that to which the
name of Tunsted is prefixed (ft).
What the author calls the Four Principals of Music will best
appear from his own manner of dividing the work. In the first
part or principal, consisting of nineteen chapters, he treats of Music
in general, its constituent Parts and Divisions. II. of its Invention,
Intervals, and Proportions, twenty-four chapters. III. of Plain
Chant, and the Ecclesiastical Modes, fifty-eight chapters. IV. of
(/) Bodl. 515.
(g) After saying that the book was finished in 1351, we have the following passage: Tile
autem anno regens erat inter Minores Oxonia Fratres, Simon de Tunstede, Doctor Sacra
Theologies, qui in Musica pollebat, et eciatn in septum liberalibus artibus.
(A) De illust. Angl. Script. Simon Tunsted, a Franciscan Friar, born at Norwich, was in
such favour for his learning and piety, as to be unanimously chosen Provincial Master of all
England. He died at Bruzard in Suffolk, in 1369.
(0 Digby 90. (fc) Bodl. 515.
* The only work which is now ascribed to Hamboys is the " Stimma super musicam
contimiam et discretum (B.M. Add. MSS. 8866). It is a commentary upon the work of the
two Francos and was written probably about 1450.
The Quatuor Principalia is usually attributed to Tunstede, who flourished in the I4th cent.
It is preserved in three MSS. :
(i) Bodleian MS. No. 515;
(ii) Bodleian MS. Digby go;
(iii) B.M. Add. MSS, 8866 (short of 3 leaves).
The Digby MS. contains a prologue which is not found in the other Bodleian copy.
Bom the above works were reprinted by Coussemaker.
674
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
Measured Music, or Time; of Discant, and their several divisions.
This last Principal is divided into two sections, of which the first
contains forty-one chapters, and the second forty-nine. The whole
treatise fills a hundred and twenty-four folio pages : the Diagrams,
which are very numerous, are beautifully written, and illuminated
with different coloured inks; and it seems to be in all respects the
most ample and complete work of the kind which the fourteenth
century can boast.
A MS. on Music, of nearly the same period, as that of Simon
Tunsted, is preserved at Oxford (/), consisting of three books. It
was written by our countryman Theinred, Precentor of the
Monastery of Dover, about the year 1371.*
The first book treats of Musical Proportion, De Proportionibus
Musicorum Sonorum. This is a very early treatise on Harmonics,
in which, when he speaks of the major and minor semitone, and
of the different portions into which they are divisible, his doctrine
is illustrated by many numerical tables, and nice splittings of tones
into commas: de Comatis; alia Proportio ejusdem Comatis, &c.
which prove a Temperament of the Scale to have been then in use.
The Second Book treats of Musical Concords, De Consonantiis
Musicorum Sonorum. Here, after specifying the different kinds of
Concords, he informs his reader that in organising, major and
minor thirds, as well as sixths, are admissible in succession.
Book III. contains Diagrams and Scales innumerable of different
species of Octave, in a literal notation. No Musical characters,
or examples of practical Music in common notes, appear throughout
the treatise.
The praises bestowed by Pits, Bale, Tanner, and others on
Theinred, whose name is sometimes written Thaured, and Thinred,
make it necessary to acquaint such of my readers as may be inclined
to take the trouble of examining this Tract themselves, that, like
many other Musical writings of the middle and lower ages, it but
ill rewards the drudgery of an entire and careful perusal ; for after
perseverance has vanquished the abbreviations, and the barbarism
and obscurity of the Latin, the vain speculations and useless
divisions of the scale with which this work so much abounds, and
which could have been but of small utility to practical Music, at
the time when it was written, are such, that now, since the theory
of Sound is so much better understood and explained by the writings
of Galileo, Mersennus, Holder, Smith, and many others, our old
countryman, Theinred, may henceforth remain peaceably on his
shelf, without much loss to the art or science of Music.
The reign of Henry VI. though turbulent and unhappy, seems
never to have been wholly unpropitious to Minstrelsy ; for it has
(Z) Bodl. 842. i. De tegitimis ordinibus Pentachordorttm et TctracJiordorum, Pr. : Quoniam
Musicorum de his Cantibus jrequens est dissensio, &c. 46 Folios, small size. Walther in his
Musical Dictionary calls this work a Phoenix.*
* A writer, Boston of Bury, augmented the title so that it read De musica et de ligitimis
ordinibus Pentachordorum. Bale, believing this to be another work by Theinred, calls him
"Musicorum sui temporis thcenix."
The Bodleian MS. is the only known copy of the work.
§75'
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
been observed by a late diligent enquirer, that Minstrels in the
fifteenth century were often better paid than the clergy (m). Many
of them are so now: but though the high salaries of favourite
Musicians, like the revenues of our Bishops, are sufficiently known
and blazoned to the world, yet the number of subalterns in want of
bread, though greater than of the clergy, is not known to the public.
The clergy have almost always some stated annual stipend on which
to depend, and which, though often small and insufficient for the
support of their families, is a resource unknown to innumerable
obscure Musicians. In the time of Henry the Vlth, the Clergy were
all single men, and generally members of some fraternity, or
Monastery, which afforded them a house, and a subsistence.
It has been observed with some degree of obloquy, by Hearne
(#), that during many years of this reign, particularly in 1430, the
annual feast of the Fraternity of the HOLIE CROSS, at Abingdon, a
town in Berkshire, twelve priests received only four pence each for
singing a dirge: and the same number of Minstrels were severally
rewarded with two shillings and four pence, besides diet and
horse-meat. Some of these Minstrels we are told, came only from
Mayden-hithe, or Maidenhead, a town at no great distance in the
same county (o). " In the year 1441, eight priests were hired from
Coventry, to assist in celebrating a yearly Obit in the Church of
the neighbouring Priory of Maxtoke ; as were six Minstrels, called
Mimi (p), belonging to the family of Lord Clinton, who lived in the
adjoining castle of Maxtoke, to sing, harp, 'and play, in the hall of
the Monastery, during the extraordinary refection allowed to the
Monks on that Anniversary. Two shillings were given to the Priests,
and four to the Minstrels, and the latter are said to have supped in
Camera picta, or the painted chamber of the Convent, with the
Sub-prior (q), on which occasion the Chamberlain furnished eight
massy tapers of wax (r) . That the gratuities allowed to priests, even
if learned, for their labours, in the same age of devotion, were
extremely slender, may be collected from other expences of this
Priory (s). In the same year, the Prior gives only sixpence (t) for a
sermon, to a Doctor Pmdicans, or an itinerant Doctor in Theology
of one of the Mendicant orders, who went about preaching to the
religious houses («)."
(m) Hist. Eng. Poetry, vol. ii. p. 105. («) Lib. Nig. Scacc. Appendix p. 598.
(o) Abingdon is, however, at least thirty miles from Maidenhead, and besides the time
necessarily spent on the road, some part of this magnificent gratuity must have been dissipated
in horse-hire.
(p) Ex computts Priori* Priorat. de Maxtock. "Dat Sex Mimis domini Ciynlon canlantibus,
Citharisantibus, et ludentibus; in aula in dicta Pictantia, iiii. s."
(q) "Mimis Cenantibus in Camera picta cum subpnore eodem tempore/' the sum
obliterated.
(r) Ex comp. Camerarii, ut supr. (s) Ex comp. pradict.
(t) Worth about five shillings of our present money.
(u) Hist. Engl. Poetry, vol. ii. p. 106.
THE StAtE OF MUSIC TO 1450
About this time two eminent Musicians flourished in England,
whose names are come down to us with a considerable degree of
celebrity ; these were John Dunstable, and Dr. John Hambois.
DUNSTABLE [d. 1453] was the Musician, whom the Germans
fiom a similarity of Name, have mistaken for St. Dunstan, and to
whom, as erroneously, they have ascribed the invention of
counterpoint in four parts. He was author of the Musical Treatise
De Mensurabilis Musicd, which is cited by Franchinus (#), Morley
'(y), and Ravenscrofte (*).* But though this work is lost, there is
still extant in the Bodleian library (a), a Geographical Tract by this
Author ; and, if we may believe his epitaph, which is preserved by
Weaver (6), he was not only a Musician, but a Mathematician, and
an eminent astrologer (c). Of his Musical compositions nothing
remains but two or three fragments in Franchinus, and Morley. He
is very unjustly accused by this last writer of separating the syllables
of the same word by rests. But I believe Master Morley was so
eager to make a wretched pun on the name of Duns-table, that he
did not sufficiently consider the passages which he censured ; the
errors in which seem to be only those of the Transcriber or Printer:
for the last syllable of Angelorum belongs to the last note of the first
Musical phrase, before the rests, and not to the first note of the
second groupe.
uj r i chtj a Q Q a i a J go1- =
iPSUM BEGEM ANGELORUM AN GELORUM i>OLA VIRGO VRGO LACTABAT
The words and syllables in this manner fall on the right notes.
Dunstable seems to have acquired a great reputation on the
continent : for he is not only cited by Franchinus, but John Tinctor,
a writer somewhat more ancient, who gives to the English the
invention of the New art of Counterpoint, and places John
Dunstaple at their head (d). It was in a MS. Latin Tract, in the
(x) Tract. Mus. lib. ii. cap. 7, and lib. Hi. cap. 3 under the name of Donstaple.
(y) Introd. p. 178. (*) Briefe disc. p. i, et al.
(a) Vide Tanner, p. 239. in Dunstab. (6) Funeral Monum. p. 577.
(c) Ib. See likewise Fuller's Worthies, p. 116.
(d) Speaking of counterpoint he says, Cujus ut ita dicam nova ariis fans et origo, apud
Anglos, quorum Caput Dunstaple exisrit faisse perhibetur. John Tinctor, born at Nivelle in
Barbant, flourished about the year 1474. He was long in the service of Ferdinand of
Arragon, King of Naples and Sicily, who reigned from 1458 to 1504, and styles himself
his Chaplain and Cantor. The title of one of his musical treatises is Tract. Musices Explanat.
Manus. De Tonor Natura et propriet. De notis ac Pausis. De regul. valore, imperfect, et
alter at. Notar De arte Contrap. There will be farther occasion to speak of this able writer and
Musician in the next chapter.
* It is possible that Dunstable wrote a treatise, but the quotations made by Ravenscrofte
are from the Quatuor principalis of Tunsted.
Since Burney's time a good deal of music by Dunstable has been discovered. The most
important collection is at Modena in a MS. which contains a Magnificat and 30 Motets (Bibl.
Estense VI. H. 15). Copies of these were made by the late W. Barclay Squire and are now
in the B.M. (Add. MSS. 36,490). In a MS. now at Vienna there are 15 works by Dunstable,
and a few are to be found in a MS. at Bologna (Liceo Musicale, Cod. 37). The works at
Bologna were published in facsimile by the Plain Song and Mediaeval Music Society in. Early
English Harmony (1897). Other works are to be found at Trinity College, Cambridge; the
Bodleian Library (Ash. MS. 191) and (Selden MS. b. 26). (Lansdowne MSS. 462), and at the
B.M. (Add. MSS. 5666 and 31922).
, 677
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
possession of Padre Martini, that I saw this curious passage, which
probably has done us some credit with those who have believed and
transcribed it ; but he could not have been thfe inventor of that art
concerning which several treatises were written before he was born.
However this is but one proof more of what has been already
remarked that when a mistake or a falsehood has once had admission
into a book, it is not easily eradicated ; and this assertion concerning
John of Dunstable's invention of counterpoint, as if it were not
sufficiently .false in itself, has been aggravated by the additional
blunder of mistaking his name for that of St. Dunstan (e).
Dunstable, whom Stow calls a Master of Astronomie and
Musike (f), was buried in the church of St. Stephen, Walbrook,
1453.
Dr. JOHN HAMBOIS is said to have possessed a considerable
share of learning in all the arts, and to have been no contemptible
Mathematician, but his biographers add, that Music held the first
place among all his studies. It is related of him likewise, that he
was remarkable for a fertile fancy, and a humour of a peculiar
kind; and Pits, taking his ideas of Musical composition from a
later period, tells us, that his knowledge in Harmony, in the
combination of Concords, and preparation and resolution of
Discords, was such as no other person of his own age and nation
possessed. To these talents, Hambois is allowed to have joined a
great knowledge in the Latin tongue, in which he wrote a Tract,
entitled, Summum Artis Musices; and Cantionum Artificialium
diversi generis, &c. Tanner was of opinion, that his Musical Treatise
was the same as that in the Bodleian Library, Digby 90, De
Quatuor Principalibm MUSICCB', but that has already been proved
to be the property of another writer.*
As Hambois has been imagined by some to be the first Musician
who was honoured with the degree of Doctor, this seems the
proper place to confirm or refute that opinion, and, if possible, to
trace the origin of an institution, which is peculiar to the Universities
of our own Country.
Anthony Wood (g) says, that the degree of Doctor in the faculty
of Music was first given in the reign of Henry the Second; but this
is fixing it at an earlier period than that in which such a title can
be proved to have subsisted at Oxford or Cambridge, or to have
been conferred on the Professors of other sciences. Spelman, a
more nice and accurate sifter of facts, believes that the appellation
of Doctor was not among the degrees granted to Graduates in
England till the reign of King John, about 1207.
(e) Not only M. Marpurg, but the editors of the Supplement to the Encyclopedic, art.
tt have lately copied this error unexamined.
(/) Survey of London, edit, of 1618. Walbrook Ward.
(g) Hist Acad. Oxon lib. i. p. 245.
*See editor's note, p. 674.
678
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
It is known that this title was created on the Continent, about
the middle of the twelfth century, as more honourable than that of
Master, which was become too common. Its original signification
implied not only learning and skill, but abilities to teach, according
to the opinion of Aristotle, who says, that the most certain proof
of knowledge in any science, is the being able to instruct others (h).
The first degree of this kind which was conferred in a public
school or academy, was at Bologna, about the year 1130, where,
according to Bayle (i), it was an honour instituted in favour of
Irnerius, Chancellor to the Emperor Lotharius, who was created
Doctor of Civil Law. This ceremony soon after was adopted in
other Universities, and passed from the Law to Theology.
Peter Lombard is the first Doctor in Sacred Theology upon
record, in the University of Paris (&).
The precise time when this creation extended to the faculties of
medicine and Music does not appear; nor can the names be found
of those professors in either, to whom the title was first granted.
[t has, however, been frequently remarked in this volume, that
during the middle ages music was always ranked among the
seven liberal arts, that it was included in the Trivium and
Quadrivium, and studied by all those who aspired at reputation
for learning throughout Europe. The Trivium comprised the three
sciences of grammar, rhetoric, and logic, which teach us how to
reason with accuracy and precision; and the Quadrivium compre-
hended arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy, as the four
branches of the mathematics, which silently contemplate what is
capable of being numbered or measured. Now it is remarkable,
that in our universities, music is the only one of these seven
sciences that confers degrees on its students; and, in other countries,
though theology, law, and medicine, bestow this honour, which
are not of the seven, yet music, which is, can aspire at no such
distinction.
However, it evidently appears that the music which was
regarded as a science by our forefathers, was merely speculative,
and such as concerned harmonics, the ratio of musical intervals,
and philosophy of sound; and in this sense musical degrees are
perhaps but seldom conferred in our universities according to the
original spirit of the institution. But the present statutes, not
wholly neglecting the gratification of the ear, are more favourable
to practical music, and allow candidates for degrees to perform
exercises, in which specimens may be furnished of their skill in
melody, harmony, and composition, where those sounds are
(ft) John de Muris begins the second part of his Treatise upon Music, of which an
account has been already given in this volume, p. 547. with the following passage:
Princeps Philosophorum Anstoteles ait in principio Mathematics sues, omnino scientis,
signum est posse docere.—Musices Tract. MS. Bodl. 300 Sues.
(t) Diet. Art. IRNERIUS.
(k) Mathias, Theatr. Hist, in Vita lothani II.
679
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
arranged and combined, which science measures and fixes by
calculation (I).
It is observed by the authors of the Histoire litteraire de la
France (m), that in the semi-barbarous' ages, music was in such
high estimation, that no one could omit the study ^ of it who
cultivated letters. The learned Gerbert, who arrived at the
Pontificate, by the title of Sylvester the second, and many other
illustrious personages, regarded it as the second branch of
mathematics. But if music does no honour to the sciences at
present, it is little indebted to them for the distinction of being
admitted into their company during so many ages, as ignorant
artists of talents and sensibility have perhaps contributed more to
her perfection, than all the sublime reveries and profound
calculations of men of science.
The first qualification for the degree either of bachelor or doctor
in music, was formerly, the reading and expounding certain books
in Boethius, as the only writings whence knowledge in the principles
of the science could be acquired (n). But the candidate for
academical degrees is no longer put to this test; he is now to compose
an exercise for voices and instruments in six or eight parts, which
he is to submit to the inspection of the music professor, and to
have publicly performed in the Music School of the University.
Wood, in his Fasti, has been able to produce no names oi
musicians that have been enrolled among the graduates of the
University of Oxford before the sixteenth centuiy, though we are
told of several at Cambridge of an earlier period. Whether
Hambois was a member of this university, or of Oxford, does not
appear, nor indeed is it precisely known at what time he received
his diploma (0). But academical honours in the faculty of Music
may be traced up to the year 1463, when Heniy Habengton was
admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Music at Cambridge, and
Thomas Saintwix, Doctor in Music,* was made Master of King's
College in the same University.
A curious composition in parts, of about this period, to words
(Z) By the Statutes of the University of Oxford, it is required of every proceeder to the
degree of bachelor in music, that he employs seven years in the study or practice of that
faculty, and at the end of that term, produce a testimonial of his having so done, under the
hands of credible witnesses; and that previous to the supplication 9f his grace towards this
degree, he compose a Song of five Parts, and perform the same publicly in the Music-School,
with vocal and instrumental music, first causing to be affixed on each of the doors of the
great gates of the schools a Programme, giving three days' notice of the day and hour of
each performance. Of a bachelor proceeding to the degree of doctor, it is required that he
shall study five years after the taking his bachelor's degree, and produce the like proof of his
having so done, as is requisite in the case of a bachelor : and farther, shall compose a Song
in six or eight Parts, and publicly perform the same "tarn Votibus quam Instrumentis etiam
Musicis," on some day to be appointed for that purpose, previously notifying the day and
hour of performance in the manner before prescribed. Such exercise to be performed in the
presence of Dr. Heyther's professor of music. This being done, the candidate shall supplicate
for his grace in the Convocation-house, which being granted by both the Savilian professors,
or by some master of arts deputed by them for that purpose, he shall be presented to his
degree.
(m) Tom. vii. p. 142, and torn. ix. p. 200. (») See the statutes of the university.
(o) In Hollinshed's Chronicle, vol. ii. p. 1355, there is an enumeration of the most
eminent men of learning in the reign of Edward IV. among whom the author includes John
Hamboys, "an excellent musician, adding, that "for his notable cunning therein, he was
made a doctor of music."
* The first record of the Mus. Bac. degree at Oxford is that given to Robert Wydow about
1499, and the first Mus. Doc. was Robert Fayrfax in 1511.
$80
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
of a still higher date is preserved in the British Museum (p),
concerning which it seems necessary here to give an account.
It is a descriptive song upon the approach of Summer, set in a
canon of four parts in the unison : or as it is called, a Rota or round.
It is written upon six red lines in square and lozenge black notes of
three kinds : Longs, Breves and Semibreves in the following manner.
SUMER IS J CUMEN IN, ' LHUDE SING CUCCU, &c.
Besides the canon of four parts in one, there are two other free
parts, which come in periodically with the same notes in a kind of
drone or burden, to each of which the author gives the name of Pes.
These are written separately, each upon a distinct staff.
Hoc repetit units quociens opus 'est fattens pausationem in fine.
SING CUCCU NU SING CUCCU
Hoc dicit alias pausam in medio et non in fine, sed immediate repetens principium.
PES <•'
3E£
1 11a
'" SING CUCCU, SING CUCCU NU
Bibl. Had. 978.
(a) This ligature has been taken for a single note, and sometimes imagined to be G, and
sometimes B; but neither will suit the harmony. I have restored the true reading by making
the ligature consist of G and A, as, by a long study of ancient, musical MSS. and a close
inspection into this, I can venture to affirm was the author s invention. In the MS. of Waltham
Holy Cross, John Wyldis notation of the Scale, or double Diapason, is the following.
(r) At the end of the Song in the Museum MS. we find these instructions for singing
it. Hanc rotam Cantare possunt quatuor sodi, a paudoribus autem quam a tribus, vel saltern
duobus, non debet did. Prater cos qui dicunt pedem. Canitur autem sic; tacentibus cateris
units inchoat cum hijs qui tennet pedem, & cum venerit ad pnmam notam post crucemf
inchoat alms; & sic de cateris : Singuli vero repausent ad pausaciones scnptas, & non abbi;
spado unius longa note.— This explanation and the rules for the Pes being in Latin, is no
proof that this Music was originally set to the Words in that language, which we find under
the English in the MS. as the whole volume consists of Latin tracts, and Music to Latin words,
except this Canon, and a Hymn to the Virgin in Latin and very old French.
In this Volume there are Hymns and Psalms in Parts over each other, but being without
Bars, not easy to compare. There are fifteen red lines equidistant, and three Clefs; C on the
highest line but one, C on the eighth line from the top, and F on the fourth from the bottom.
The notes are only of two sorts : full square, with tails, and lozenge without, | 4 . There are
likewise ligatures and plica, which add to the difficulty of the reading. The notes very much
resemble those of Walter Odington's Treatise, Benet Coll. Cambridge (vide supra p. 518 etseq.)
and seem of the thirteenth or fourteenth century, except the Canon, which however I can
hardly imagine to be much more modern.
6Si
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Though this Canon and Catch, united, is very ingeniously
contrived, and has not only more melody, but is in better harmony
than I have hitherto found of so early a period ; yet, in point
of composition though its defects may not be discovered by every
Ear during the performance, it is hardly clean and pure enough to
satisfy the Eye, in score : as many* liquors may be tolerably
palatable, and yet not bear a glass. However, to enable the
Musical reader to judge of the state of Harmony in our country
about the fourteenth or fifteenth century, I shall present them
with a solution of this ancient Canon.*
CANON, from an ancient MS. in the British Museum.
ft... [.1
t-© ^—
.^TT^V
^T=
L, ..
is i-
cum - en
in,
Ihud. -e
— -i— .
sing cue-
-9 r-
cu.
^ — f-
— s
^±=J
&.. . •
sum - er
IS 1 •
cum - en
in
(flrS — i
£FF=^
^=j
^3 O* —
0*
— fl
^
9*
-&
to
-a?
«*-?
CUC-. •
^"
•&>
nu/
sing
_^
— 05
£^?=
*H>
•v «ma
,:-_
^
~ -i—
•^ p—
i P n — flL.
J grcweth
sed and
blow: «th
-d — J-
med and
-» f—
springth the
1—
wod-e
nu.
J ftud- .0
sing cue - -
•cu.
*=!*=
groweth
sed and
Wow . oth
med and
J sum -. er
.is i-
cum • en
J 1-£-
in,
Ihude
-S ^r-
•^ ^~
sing cuc-
-S> ^S—
cu.
^=%=\
z |0 * •
•X. Q' —
-0-T
-Sfc lp-
• 11 •
sum -er
-9*
i
is i
£3*
cum -en
•9^
J i— i —
in,
-^b = —
sing.
•&'
•e^T
<S>»
cu
-3:
nu/
sing
-©*
cue- ,
-cu.
-0s
-3 p
K, $5n<7
••-'.
* w
•inn
9K ,.
- cu
nil.
* The Rota Sumer is i-cumen in is now thought to be the work of one John of Fornsete and
the date is fixed somewhere between 1239-40.
Besides its beauty as a piece of music it is remarkable for several things:
(a) it is the earliest known piece of 6-part writing;
(b) it is one of the earliest known examples of the modern major scale;
(c) it is the earliest known canon;
(d) On the MS. both secular and sacred words are found. Burney is inclined to
assume a North country origin of the words, but there can be no doubt that they
are in the Wessex dialect.
682
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
•yyg ••-*--
.-su«'--— —
O !_,
M
___ p-
TT P^
~5 3~"
J sina
9 9
0 d
Wet • eth
g r
af-ter
lomb, Ihouth
|F=F^
J springth the
wood-e
nu.
sing
1 TO—
-3 ®—
cu.
B TZ
J flroweth
sed and
blow . eth
med and
LSZ £__
spnngth the
L_J
wod - e
nu.
Ihude
sing cue - -
cu.
X-.
groweth
-« F—
sed and
blow- eth.
^=
med dnd
*HP
_1^I=I
•e-*
o-
•*
^.
_.
-a p—
h^2i 1
\L .1
^ — p-
f=P=\
If n ^
J A{ . ter
4 « j
P=*
cal - ve
CO.
..£3-. O \
Bui - luc
^— P-
ster • teth
-E — £_
buck-e
vert . eth
mu - ne
If ^
J Aw - e
ir^ —
S J-
blet - eth
-e-
-cc 1_
df . ter
-©*
lomb, ihouth
af-ter
k=^J
cdl . ve
cu
Bui - luc
f
7 S,ng
fe=^
cue • -•
•0 — e-
•cu.
Aw -e
^
blet • eth
-©*
df . ter
^
lomb, .Ihouth
df • ter
y g ^
J Spnngth' the
-e* — ©•
wod - e
nu. »
r-©*
S,ng
^f
cue - --
o*
-ca
-&
Aw - e
-£*-r
.Jing
"=©•'
cue - -•---»-
- cu
•e--
nu,
sing
cue -.
•cu
nu
sing
-&
^-^ r
rf^r-^
r05 — i
r^-. 1
1 1
T]
It"
o— ^~
^J^zz
sing cue >
-0
> cu
cue .-« •
•cu
cue — .-
^.- cu
wei sing
JS ^->
-es thu
stert - eth.
•h
buck . e
vert - eth,
mu » rie
sing cue -
cu.
cue — -
- - cu
-1 cak - e
/fr^ — r
cu.
Bui . luc
sterth-eth,
buck.e
vert, eth,
mu - rie.
±-
sing cue -
^^
J b.et - eth
df - ter
lomb, Ihouth
aF ; ter
cdl - ve
cu.
8ut luc
o P
sterth • eth|
cue - • •
cu.
nu.
sing
cue ->--• •
o-
cu
nu.
Sing
cue - • -
,,.,o- -
l/p 1
683
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
|A
*=t=:
fe=^=
.01, ne
swik ihu
nau - er
nu.,.
Sum-er
is i - -
cum ' en
^=^=.
$F=^=
•cu
we! sing
- es thu
^e*
cue -.-_-
cu, ne
swik thu
na« -or
nu.
¥=
' CU
*F^
cue -
r=H
• cu
cue
-&:
| o .ci_|
cu,
wel sing
0 c?
- es thu
cue -
|tp i
J buclc .'e
vert • eth.
^
mu . rie •
-©=
sing cue -
cu
•e-
cue -«-
» cu, ...
cue •
^-p
01
-©-•
mi,
sing
cue -.-
cu,
nu,
za^ft
sing
•&•'
cue '
0.
- cu
-^
-^-0
! *
> Ihud-e
sirg cue
cu
grow • eth
sed and
blow-eth
sum - er
is i-
cum - en
in,
Ihud-c
sing cue -
cu.
* --cu, ne
swik thu
nuu - er
nu.
sum - er
is i-
cum -en
^ W^"Q
L, d
wel sing
es thu
cue - - - -
•3*
cu ne
swik thu
mau - er
nu.
nu
sirg .
cue
cu
ru
sing
cue
cU-
cu
•*-*
J med and
fe~:
springth the
±-
wod e
nu
sng
cue
-s — e—
cu
«*
^^
grow - eth
sed ard
b'ow eth
med and
sprirgth the
wod-e
nu.
<9
*=T±^
^F=^=
Ihud-e
sirg CL-C
cu
Ihud-e
sing cue -
cu.
<*
y
q» O
sum - er
•a*
IS 1-
•a-
.cum - en
-&
in .
Ihud-e
-^*
Sing cue -
cu
-^*
nu.
sirg
cuc----
cu
RU
=^to
^
cue
^*
*
-*-0
, 1
684
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
The following seems to be the true import of the words.
Summer is a-coming in.
Loud sing cuckow.
Groweth seed,
And bloweth mead.
And springeth the wood new.
Ewe bleateth after Iamb;
Loweth after calf, cow;
Bullock sterteth (s),
Bucke verteth (*),
Merry sing cuckow.
• Well sing'st thou cuckow,
Nor cease thou ever, now («}.
The rule against the succession of fifths is so often violated, that
this composition seems a remnant of that species of Diaphonics^ or
Discant, which was called by the French Quintoior, 8ths likewise,
and Unisons so frequently occur, that it would be tiresome _ to
point them .all out. The Musical reader, however, by compairing
the figurative references, will see how frequently the well known
prohibition of perfect concords moving in the same intervals, has
been disregarded.
Indeed, from the Northern pronunciation of the words which the
Rhymes require, and the inartificial counterpoint, I am sometimes
inclined to imagine this Canon, with the difference of additional
parts and a second drone base of later times, to have been the
production of the Northumbrians, who, according to Giraldus
Cambrensis, used a kind of Natural symphonious harmony (#).
The chief merit of this ancient composition is the airy and
pastoral correspondence of the Melody with the words. As to the
Modulation, it is so monotonous, that little more than two chords
are used throughout the Canon. But being the first example of
Counterpoint in six parts, as well as of Canon, Fugue, or Catch, that
can be produced, its seems to form an aera in vocal harmony, and
to merit the reader's attention (y).
After this specimen of our Practical Music, I shall return to
Theory, in order to give an account of a very scarce and curious
Volume of MS. tracts, neatly written on Vellum, which before the
reformation appertained to the Monastery of Waltham Holy-Cross,
(s) Leaps. (*) Frequents the green fern.
(u) Though the word cuckow so frequently occurs in this song, the interval in which this
bird sings has not been imitated in the music; which is the more remarkable, as it is
obvious, and one of the few instances of such sounds being used by birds as humanity can
easily counterfeit. Subsequent composers, however, have seldom failed to imitate the cuckow s
melody, wherever he is mentioned. Weelkes and Bennet, m the time of queen Elizabeth, have
StrodScd it in their madrigals; Vivaldi's and Lampe** Cuckow C?ncertos were in great
favour thirty or forty years ago; and Dr. Arne's song of the cuckow, in As You Like it, was
constantly encored when sung by Mrs. Chve.
(x) Vide supra, p. 483.
(v) Such are the antiquity, language, and versification of the burlesque metrical Romance
called The TOURNAMENT of TOTTENHAM, inserted in the second volumes of Rehques of ancient
Entusi t Poetry, p. 15, second edition, that it. seems no very wild conjecture to imagine it
fSle &at Sis very Canon, which requires six Performers, may have been alluded to at the
close of the last Stanza.
585
In every Corner of the House
Was Melody delicious,
For to hear .precious
Of six MENS SONG.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
in Essex, as appears by a rubric inscription on the first leaf (2). It
afterwards became the property of the venerable THOMAS
TALLYS, whose name appears in his own hand-writing on the back
of the last leaf. Morley seems to have consulted this MS. but to
whom it belonged after the death of Tallis does not appear till the
reign of King William, when it was among the books of Mr. Powle,
Speaker of the House of Commons. From him it went to Lord
Somers ; and then to Sir Joseph Jekyll, at the sale of whose Library
by Auction, it was purchased by a country organist, who in gratitude
for some benefits received, presented it to the late James West, Esq.
President of the Royal Society, and it is now the property of the
Earl of Shelbume (a)*
The Tracts contained in this Volume, which is wholly perfect
and well preserved, are the following :
I. Musica Guidonis Monachi.
II. De Origine et Effectu Musica.
III. Speculum Cantantium sive Psalterium.
IV. Metrologiis Liber.
V. Regula Magistri Johan, Torksey.
VI. Tractatus Magistri Johannes de Huris, de distantia
et Mensura vocum.
VII. Regulce Magistri Thames Walsingham.
VIII. Lionel Power of the Cordis of Musike.
IX. Treatise of Musical Proportions, and of their Naturis
and Denominations, first in English and then in
Latyne.
The first is not a Treatise by Guido, as the title seems to imply,
but an explanation of his principles ; it is divided into two books,
and appears to have been compiled by the Pnecentor of Waltham
Abbey, John Wylde. Pr. Quia juxta Sapientissimum Salomonem
dura est The author does not confine himself to the doctrines of
Guido, but cites later writers. The Basis of the Tract, however,
fa the Micrologus, of which, and of Guido's other writings, so much
has already been said in the present volume that it is unnecessary to
enlarge much upon a work which is professedly built upon his
principles. The Monochord, the Scale, the Hand, the explanation
of which he calls Manual Music, Ecclesiastical Tones, Solmisation,
fe) Hunc Librum vocitatum Musicam Guidonis, scripsit Dominus Johannes Wylde,
quondam exempti Monasterii Sancta Crucis de Waltham Prascentor. After this, in black ink,
and a different hand writing, is the following usual anathema. Quern quidem Librum, aut hunc
titulwn, qui maKtiose abstulerit aut deleverit. Anathema sit.
(a) By the kind intervention of the honourable Daines Barrington, I was favoured with
this MS. while it was in the possession of. Mr. West, just before my departure for Italy; but
returned it ere I left England, for fear of accident, though I had then made but a small
nroeress in it After the decease of Mr. West, I was a considerable tune ignorant to whom this
curious and valuable MS. belonged; but at length had the good fortune to discover that it had
fallen into the hands of the Earl of Shelburne, by whose liberal communication, so well known
to the literary world, I have long been indulged with the use of it, and the opportunity 1 now
enjoy, of consulting it as much at my leisure, as if ft were my own property.
*This MS. is now in the B.M. (Lansdowne'MS: 7$3).
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
Clefs, with a Battle between B Flat and B Natural, are the subjects
of the first Book, consisting of XXII Chapters.
The second Book, or Distinction, contains XXXI Chapters. In
the first he speaks of a Guido Minor, surnamed Augensis, as a writer
on the Ecclesiastical Chant. He had mentioned this author in the
seventh Chapter of the first Book ; but who he was, or when he
lived, I am unable to discover. It seems however as if some such
Musical Writer had existed, and that his name, by the ignorance
or inattention of the Scribes of Ancient MSS. had been confounded
with that of Guido d'Arezzo (&).
In several of the succeeding chapters he treats of Intervals and
their Species, offering nothing new or singular, except where he
draws a parallel between the Tone and Semitone, and Leah and
Rachel, Jacob's wives, which it is presumed will excite no great
curiosity in my reader.
Attention is engaged, however, in the tenth Chapter by a
Cantilena, as the Author calls it, of the great Guido. It is a kind
of Solfeggio, or exercise for the voice, through all the Intervals,
which is only rendered valuable perhaps, by the supposition of its
having been produced by the celebrated author of the Musical
Alphabet.
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Consonantias includens.
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A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
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The rest of this Treatise, which might have been very useful at
the time it was written, contains only an account of the Ecclesiastical
Tones, Formula, Finals, &c. which have been all better explained
by succeeding writers (c). Several of the Diagrams have been
omitted, as usual, by the Scribes ; in other respects it is ample and
complete, occupying 48 folios, or 96 pages, which are wholly on the
Chants of the Church, without even mentioning Secular Music,
Cantus Mensurabilis, or Counterpoint.
Between this and the next Tract there are two or three
Fragments, by different writers, of no great importance.
II. De Origine et Effectu Musica, in four Sections. Pr. Musica
est Scientia recte canendi, sive Scientia de Numero relato ad Sonum.
The author, after telling us that Music is the Science of Number
applied to Sound, or an art dependent on Calculation, makes heavy
complaints of the Fashionable Singers of his Time, who corrupt
and deform the Diatonic Genus, by making the Seventh of a Key a
Semitone. This is a curious circumstance, and proves that
counterpoint had made some progress, and, for the sake of
Harmony, had encroached upon the Simplicity of the Ecclesiastical
Chants, which were confined to the Natural Scale, formed of
different species of Octaves. Our author here specifies the evils of
which he complains, by telling us, that after the example of Singers
in the Chapels of Princes, " Many now, when they ascend to G
(c) There is a fragment of this second book of Wylde's treatise at Oxford, Bodl. 77.
688
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
from D, as D E F G, make a Semitone between F and G (d); and
when they have D C D to sing, or G F G, make Semitones of C and
F." This must have been at a close, which could not be made
grateful to the ear in Counterpoint, without a sharp third to the
Base ; which, through mere pedantry, was thought so licentious,
that though necessary and allowable in performance, it was not
suffered to be expressed in writing. The author cites, in support of
his reasoning, the Quatuor Principalia, which proves the Tract to
have been written after the year 1351 (e).
It is this author whose monkish rhymes have been quoted to
prove that John de Muris was an Englishman (/). But he is too
wild in his Chronology, and too absurd in his Opinions, except
those relative to the mere mechanical rules of Music, to be of much
authority. Besides the instances already given, it will help to
stamp his character, if it be added that in enumerating the Inventors
and Improvers of Music, after telling us that Philip de Vitriaco
invented the least figure, or Minim, he speaks of St. Austin and
St. Gregory, as later writers. Now Vitriaco flourished in the
fourteenth century, St. Austin in the fourth, and St. Gregory in
the sixth; but in his verses he places Guido before these saints,
whom he seems determined to modernize.
III. Speculum Psalleniium. The author of this short Tract
adhering strictly to its title, gives no other precepts than those of
St. Augustine, St. Gregory, and St. Bernard, for singing the Mass.
St. Augustine and St. Bernard convey their admonitions in verse.
IV. Metrologus Liber Pr. In Nomine Sanctts & individua
Trinitatis incipit Metrologus de Plana Musica et brevis, Primo, Quid
est Musical Musica est pericia Modulations. — This Tract does
not treat of Time or Measure, as the title seems to promise, but ol
the invention of Music, the Gammut, Solmisation, Clefs, Intervals,
Ecclesiastical Modes, and of whatever Guido treats in his Micrologus,
a name which seems to suit this Treatise better than Metrologus.
However the author, fol. 66, gives a Notation of the Metrical
Feet in Poetry, which is some excuse for the title he has chosen.
In the second part, he gives the History of Pythagoras's Discovery
of the Consonances and the Intonation of the Psalms, in a more
complete manner than I have seen in so ancient an author.
This Tract is the same as BodL 515, and was written by Simon
Tunsted, about the middle of the fourteenth century.
It is followed by a whimsical attempt to prove the Analogy
between Music and Heraldic Colours. It may be very ingenious
and very true for ought that I can urge to the contrary, for being
utterly unable to understand the author, it would ill become me
to determine the degree of praise or blame that is due to his
(d) The author uses the syllables ut, re, mi, &c., but I shall name the sounds which they
imply by the letters of the alphabet, as they will be more generally understood.
(e) He afterwards quotes the Geneal Deor. of Boccace. which it is probable appeared
still later.
(/) See above, p. 550.
VOI,. i. 44 689
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
work (g). Le Clavecin oculaire, invented a few years ago, had at
least a more obvious design, and a more plausable and promising
metho,d of conveying pleasure to the eye by the Harmony of
Colours, than this author appears to have.
V. Regulce Magistri Johan. Torkesey. If we could find any
Music of the beginning of the fifteenth century, this Tract, which
is the best comment upon the Ancient Time-table that I have seen,
would greatly assist us in reading it.* The author informs us, that
though there are only three specific square characters used in
Musical Notation; the Large, the Long, and the Breve, these are
modified in six species of Simple Notes. Then he proceeds to their
explanation, and attributes of perfection and imperfection; and here
we find that about a century after the invention of the Minim, a
still shorter note was introduced into Measured Music, called by
some Crochetum, and by this author and a few others, the Simple.
His Diagram, or representation of these six characters, with their
correspondent rests, is so short and clear, that I shall present it to
the reader.
Minim Setnibreve Breve Long Large
I have given such rests as belong to those notes in their imperfect
State, as they were then called, when used in Dupla proportion, or
as we now call it, common time. In their perfect State, or triple
proportion, a square note was regarded as equal to three of the
next shorter note in degree, without a point of perfection,, which
was at first only used to the semibreve and notes of less duration.
All these notes being originally black, when a hook was applied
to the Minim, it would have, to a modern eye, the appearance
of a Quaver, to which the name of Crotchet is now improperly
applied. After these notes were opened, it was no uncommon
thing to see white Crotchets, or as we should now call them
Quavers A A , which were then only one degree quicker than the
Minim. It is hoped, that these remarks will facilitate the under-
standing of the Moods and Prplations when they come to be
explained and enable the musical reader to peruse with greater
pleasure the examples of Ancient Composition which may be
inserted hereafter.
(g) The Greeks indeed have the expression of a white voice, for a voice that is clear: and
of a black voice, for the contrary: as the Romans talk of a brown voice, fusca vox. as that
of Nero is called by Suetonius.
* A considerable amount of early I5th century English music is now known. Apart from
Se,,^2£k of Du?ste.ble, easily the most important composer of the period, there is the Old
Hall MS., which has 138 pieces by various composers, including twenty-one for 3 and 4 voices by
Lionel Power.
As a matter of fact over 300 works of the period are now known, and by means of these
we are able io estimate the importance of the early, isth century musicians much better than
Burney could, who did not know it at all beyond two or three pieces by Dunstable.
590
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
Torkesey next exhibits such a table of Concords and Discords
as may be seen in innumerable other books; but he afterwards
gives a notation of intervals, from the Comma to the Disdiapason,
that is curious. Here the square B, 'p, or natural, serves for all
accidental semitones, ascending, and the round b for the same
intervals, descending. The character of $ was not yet in general
use, though its invention has been traced as high as Marchetto da
Padua's time (h). The Comma he calls the difference between G
sharp and A flat; the Diesis between C sharp and D; the Minor
Semitone, between F and F sharp; the Major Semitone between
E and F.
This Tract, and all the preceding parts of the MS. are of the
same hand-writing, and seem to have been transcribed by the
Precentor Wylde, himself, as at the End, after these words,
Expliciunt Regulce Magistri Johannis Torkesey De 6 Speciebus
notarum, &c. there is this signature — J. W.
VI. Regulce Magistri Johannis de Muris. This is the Title of
the next Tract in the MS. which, however, is not a Work of John
de Muris, as the inscription seems to imply, but one built upon
his principles. De Muris had written so much on the Cantus
Mensurabilis, that the opinion of its having been of his Invention
was very early received; as appears by the author of this little work,
which must have been written within less than a century of the
time when de Muris flourished, having ascribed to him the doctrine
which he proposed to illustrate. He enters deeply into the
Mysteries of Ligatures, and gives rules for the Simple, which is a
note that was invented long after the time of John de Muris. But
this Tract was probably not only transcribed but compiled by the
Precentor of Waltham-Abbey, as quod. J. Wylde, is written at the
end.
VII. Regulce Magistri Thomce Walsingham, De Figuris
compositis & non compositis, et de Cantu perfecto <§* imperfecto, et
de Modis. This comprehensive Title does not promise more than
the Author has performed; as the simple and compound Figures or
Notes, their perfect and imperfect powers, the Moods and every
thing that concerned the Time or Measure of such Music as then
subsisted, is very well explained; particularly the Moods and Signs
of Prolation, which I do not recollect to have seen represented in
any other Authors equally ancient. His Chapters on rests or
pauses, on the Signs of perfection and imperfection of the notes,
and of the alteration of their value, by position or colour, are very
instructive.
The signs of prolation at first were confined to four: two for
perfect or triple time, and two for imperfect or common time. The
Circle with a point of perfection in the centre, thus O» was the
Sign for the great Mode perfect, in which all long notes were equal
in duration to three of the next shorter in degree. The simple
circle, unaccompanied by the point, was used for notes of a shorter
(A) Supra, p. 672.
691
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
duration, but with the same triple power. These two moods may
be compared with our present measures of f- and f , where each
note is occasionally rendered perfect, or equaTto three others, by a
point, instead of the general augmentation implied by the circle,
which the old masters placed at the beginning of a movement.
The signs of imperfect, or, as we now call it, Common Time,
were these G • C. which differ but little from those in present use
for Dupla proportion, or an equal number of notes in a measure;
where each longer note is only equal to two of the next shorter kind.
Thus far these modes are easily comprehended, and all reducible
to such as are in present use. But the great difficulty in the
measure of such ancient music as was composed before the use
of Bars, and disuse of Ligatures, Plicae, and Prolation, is the
frequent augmentation and diminution occasioned in the length of
notes by position, and by the frequent changes of the signs of
prolation. Walsingham has, indeed, taken great pains to remove
this difficulty by explanations, and numerous examples in notes;
and I do not remember to have seen such light thrown on the
subject by any other author before Morley, when, indeed, instruc-
tion, except for the perusal and performance of old masters, was
too late, as the time-table had undergone many changes, and
composers had learned to express their thoughts in a new and more
intelligible manner.
VIII. This is a short treatise, written in English, which, besides
the obsolete words, orthography, and shape of the letters, has
several other internal marks of considerable antiquity: such as a
mixture of Saxon letters; an oblique stroke, instead of a dot over
the letter z; and the frequency and kind of abbreviations. Though
this Essay will afford no information of importance to a musician
of the present times, except that which will gratify self-complacence,
by discovering to him that the author knew less than subsequent
improvements in the art of music have enabled him to know himself;
yet, as it seems to be the most ancient musical tract that has been
written, or at least preserved, in our vernacular tongue, I shall give
a considerable extract from it, not only to shew the state of our
music, but our language, at the period when it was written.
" This Tretis is contynued upon the Gamme for hem that wil
be syngers, or makers, or techers. For the ferst thing of alle ye
must kno how many cordis of discant there be. As olde men sayen,
and as men syng now-a-dayes, ther be nine; but whoso wil syng
mannerli and musikeli, he may not lepe to the fifteenth in no
manner of discant; for it longeth for no manny's voys, and so ther
be but eyght accordis after the discant now usid. And whosoever
wil be a maker, he may use no mo than eyght, and so ther be but
eyght fro unison unto the thyrteenth. But for the quatribfl syghte
ther be nine accordis of discant, the unison, thyrd, fyfth, syxth,
eyghth, tenth, twelfth, thyrteenth, and fyfteenth, of the whech
nyne accordis fyve be perfyte, and fewer be imperfyte. The fyve
perfyte be the unison, fyfth, eyghth, twelfth, and fyfteenth; the
fower imperfyte be the thyrd, syxth, tenth, and syxteenth
692
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
[thyrteenth] : also thou maist ascende and descende wyth alle maner
of cordis excepte two accordis perfyte of one kynde, as two unisons,
two fyfths, two eyghths, two twelfths, two fifteenths, wyth none
of these thou maist neyther ascende, neyther descende; but thou
must consette these accordis togedir, and medele hem wel, as I
shall enform the. Ferst thou shall medele with a thyrd a fyfth,
wyth a syxth an eyghth, wyth an eyghth a tenth, wyth a tenth a
twelfth, wyth a thyrteenth a fyfteenth; under the whech nyne
accordis three sygtis be conteynyd, the mene syght, the trebil syght,
and the quatribil syght : and others also of the nyne accordis how
thou shalt hem ymagyne betwene the playn song and the discant
here folloeth tJiegMfeisample. First to enforme a chylde in hys
counterpoynt, he^iust ymagyne hys unison the eygth note fro
the playn-song behethe; hys thyrd the syxth note benethe; his fyfth
the fowerth benethe; his syxth the thyrd note benethe; his eyghth
even with the playne song; hys tenth the thyrd note above, his
twelfth the fyfth note above, his thyrteenth the syxth above, hys
fyfteenth the eyghth note above the playne-song."*
The author then proceeds to give a kind of Regie de VOctave,
or rule for accompanying the eight notes of a key, which he calls
the Quadreble Syghte, and by which he means such concords as the
highest part in discant may sing to each note of the key of G. By
a view of these accordis, as he calls them, we shall be enabled to
judge of the harmony of his time; and though the author expresses
the intervals by the syllables of Solmisation, by figures, and by
square notes, I shall exhibit them in characters that are most
familiar at present.
i — n
1 — in
1 — i""*]
n — fi
FT S-^1
fi J PI •
l<tr^'
*•
=3=^
J
_» — i —
i J p r ' i
T * r »
It is observable here that the ecclesiastical scales, formed of
different species of Octave, still tyrannized over harmony and
modulation too much to allow a sharp to the seventh of the key of
G; however, there is this advantage in the F being natural, that
the same harmony can be applied to the base in descending as well
as in ascending, which is not practicable in the modern Regie de
VOctave.
After giving the Treble Syght, as Master Power calls it, which
is a remplissage of the harmony which a contrapuntist can easily
imagine from the other part, he proceeds to tell us that " of these
two sightis nedith no ferther more to ymagine. But here folloeth
ensaumplis of diverse playn songis, how thou shalt .discant hem
be diverse wise." I shall give one specimen more of his harmony,
in order to furnish my readers with a very early instance of the
accompaniment to a base being expressed by figures.
*Burney punctuated the latter part of this extract incorrectly. In his version the rules
"to enforme a chylde in hys counterpointe" were meaningless.
693
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
6 6 3 0 6 a 6 6 3 « 6 ii 6663
335335333^35 3335
This will serve as a specimen of Faburden, or, as the French
call it, Fauxbourdon, and the Italians, Falsabordone, which
originally implied Extemporary Discant, in a succession of thirds
and sixths.
The author terminates his treatise by the following words:
" But who will kenne his Gamme wel, and the ymaginations
thereof, and of hys accordis, as I have rehersid in this treatise
afore, he may not faile of his counterpoint in short tyme."
LYONEL POWER.
After this we have a short tract, written likewise in English,
which seems a supplement to the preceding rules for discant.
" Her folwith a litil tretis according to the first tretis of the
Sight of Descant (i). And also for the Sight of Counter, and for
the Sight of the Counter-tenor, and of Faburden/'* He then repeats
the rules which Power had prescribed, after which he proceeds to
inform us that "it is fayre and men singing many imperfyte cordis
togeder — also as many syxts next after a eyghth— this maner of
singyng is meiy to the synger and to the herer." The author
concludes his precepts by the following injunction: "two
perfyte accordis of one nature may not be sung togeder in no degree
of descant." Which is a prohibition of fifths and eighths in
succession.
This precept, with which the author terminates his tract, seems
to have been so much unknown or disregarded by the composer
of the canon, " Sumer is i cumen in/' that the violation of a rule
so earnestly recommended by theorists and religiously observed by
practicians ever since the laws of harmony were established, excites
a suspicion that this canon is much more ancient than has been
imagined.
The rest of this little tract furnishes nothing new or useful to the
history or science of music, and therefore I shall proceed to the
next and last treatise in the MS. (ft).
IX. Her beginneth tretises diverse of musical proportions, of
theire naturis and denominations, fferst in English, and then in
Latyne.
As these are both written upon a subject that has been much
better treated since, I shall not be diffuse in my account or citations.
The author, whose name is CHILSTON, seems to pursue the
subject of the preceding tracts: " Now passid al maner sightis ot
(*) This is the first time that I have observed the word to have been thus written.
(fc) Though the name of the author is not prefixed to this tract vet the «nhi*rt
££Sl% V d- $*% J° mUCh 17*emble ?OSe of *" **«• «* to ha^ k^ppearance o? J
Ight o?D^ant^ be eXpieSSly "^ *** ft * Written "acc<>rding to the ftSISSVtto
at 0*£rd*<^« There is a very similar worl:
694
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
descant, and with hem wel replesshid, that natural appetide not
saturate sufficientii desireth mo musical conclusions, as now in
special of proportions, and of them to have plein information, of
the whech afir myn understonding ye shall have opin declaration."
Cicero, in writing upon philosophy in his own language, was
obliged to retain Greek terms; so our author, who appears to have
been the first that had attempted to explain the philosophy of
sound in English, uses a similar expedient. " But for as moche
as the namys of hem (proportions) be more convenientli and
compendiusli sette in Latin than in Englishe, therfor the namys of
hem shal stonde stille in Latin, and as breveli as I can declare the
naturis of hem in English/'
If allowance be made for the antiquity of the language, the
author's definitions are very clear, and such as would be intelligible
to persons wholly ignorant of mathematics; and in explaining the
difference between geometrical, arithmetical, and harmonical
proportion, he would perhaps convey more science to an ignorant
reader, from the language in which he expresses himself being less
learned and technical than that of more modern writers.
The last article in this valuable MS. is but the fragment of a
Latin tract upon musical proportions; but as the author applies his
calculation in the preceding tract to the ratios of musical tones,
with respect to gravity and acuteness, in this he considers their
relative length and duration, and illustrates his doctrines with red
musical notes in the treble, and black in the base, composed of such
measures as in the execution would perhaps baffle the knowledge
and experience of the greatest practical musicians now alive. Here
we have not only double and triple proportions, but Quintuple,
Sesquialterats, Sesquitertian, and Sesquioctavan : that is, when one
minim in the base is as long as a semibreve, or two minims, in the
treble; as three minims; as five; as one and a half; as 16 to 12, or
12 to 9!*
Whether all these measures were ever received, or attempted in
practice, does not appear; we can only be certain, if they were, that
no other effect could be produced by them than that of dislocation
and confusion. The age, however, of which we are now speaking,
as well as the next, with a true Gothic spirit, delighted in difficult
trifles; and composers, after the laws of counterpoint were settled,
seemed more ambitious of pleasing the eye than the ear, as there
will be but too frequent occasion to remark in the course of this
work. Theories, systems, and hypotheses of distant times remain,
and are more intelligible than useful; but how all the didactic and
theoretic musical treatises which were now produced operated upon
the practice of the art, we are but little acquainted; for whether
this period gave birth to many vocal compositions in parts, or
with what success instrumental music was cultivated, is as difficult
to determine, as whether the present scarcity of ancient music has
been occasioned by the want of genius and diligence in musicians
* The signature of TaUis was found in this MS.
695
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
to produce it, or the neglect of subsequent times in preserving it
from destruction.
The minstrel trade, however, seems to have flourished in these
times, and to have been very profitable to its followers, if we may
judge by the frequent use that was made of their talents by the
great, and the manner in which they were rewarded.
In these times not only the king and principal nobility had
minstrels in their service, as part of their household, but some of
the greater monasteries retained them for their own use, and
appointed them salaries; for it is recorded that Jeffrey, the harper,
so early as the reign of Henry the Second, received a corrody,
or annuity, from the Benedictine abbey of Hide, near Winchester
(Z), doubtless as a reward for the exercise of his musical talents on
public occasions. The abbies of Conway 'and Shatflur, in Wales,
likewise severally maintained a bard (m).
In the annual account-roll of the Augustine priory of Bicester,
in Oxfordshire, for the year 1431, entries are likewise made of the
sums expended in fees to Minstrels; " Given to the harper on St.
Jerom's day, viii, d. — to another called Hendy, at the feast of St.
Simon and St. Jude, xii, d. To one of Lord Talbot's minstrels after
Christmas, xii, d, — To the minstrels of Lord Strange, on twelfth-
day, xx, d. — To two of Lord LovelTs minstrels after St. Mark's
day, xvi, d. To the minstrels of the Duke of Gloucester, on the feast
of the Blessed Virgin, Hi, s. iv, d." Two minstrels from Coventry
are said to have been employed at the consecration of John, prior
of this convent, 1432 (n).
(1} Madox, Hist. Exchequer, p. 251, where he is called Galjridus Citharesdus.
(m) Ppwel's CAMBRIA, and Hist, of English Poetry, vol. i. p. 92. This is a custom which
may be ^ still said to subsist in Italy, where great singers, after retiring from the stage and
settling in any great city, or in the neighbourhood of great monasteries, have an annual
salary for performing there, at the celebration of particular festivals, or at the consecration oi
nuns, when the daughters of persons of distinction take the veil. This is now the case with
Caffarelli at Naples, Manzoli at Florence, and Guarducci at Montefiasconi, and its
neighbourhood.
(n) I am indebted to the diligence of the Rev. Mr. Thos. Wharton for these last
particulars, Hist. Eng. Poetry \f vol. i. p. 91, where there is a note so much to my purpose
that I am tempted to insert it here, entire. "In the Ancient Annual Rolls of Accompts of
Winchester College, there are many articles of this sort. The two following, extracted from a
great number, may serve as a specimen. They are chiefly in the reign of Edward IV., viz.
r« #*„ -™ T,«T "ir+ ,-„ c«i M?,:.*,.™.. A — -D.-:. venientibus ad Collegium xv. die
a venientibus ad Collegium primo die
arr. ii s. iiii d."— In the year 1483.
—-;• •""'.' -"^ *-*•"- ±r""** *»«*>" .;«•»• ?** ^vu- *** a« *v «• *fl the year 1472. "Et in dat.
Mimstrallis dom. Regis cum vii d. dat. duobus Berewardis ducis Clarentie xxd. Et in dat.
Johanni Stulto quondam dom. de Warewyco, cum iiii d. dat. Thome Revyle Toborario,— Et
in datis duobus Ministralhs ducis Glocestrie, cum iiii d. dat. uni Ministrallo ducis di
Northumberland, viii d.— Et in datis duobus citharatoribus ad vices venient. ad Collegium viii
d."— In the year 1479. "Et in datis Satrapis Wynton venientibus ad Coll. festo Epiphanie,
cum xu d. dat. Ministrallis dom. Episcopi venient. ad. Coll infra Octavas Epiphanie iii s " —
In themyear 147?. "Et in dat. Ministraffis dom. Principis venient. ad. coll. festo Ascentionis
Domini, cum xx d. dat. Ministrallis dom. Regis, v s. — In the year 1464. "Et in dat
Ministrallis comitis Kancie venient. ad Coll. in mense Julii, iiii s. mi d."— In the year 1467
' Et in datis quatuor Mimis dom. de Arundell venient. ad. Coll. xiii die ffebr. ex curiafitate dom
custodis, i] is."- In the year 1466. "Et in dat. Satrapis (ut supr.) cum ii s. dat. iiii.
mterludentibus et J. Meke citheristae eodem fiesto, iiii s."~ In the year 1484. "Et in dat. uni
Mimstrallo dom. principis et in aliis Ministrallis ducis Glocestrie v die Julii, xx d."— The
minstrels of the bishop, of lord Arundell, and the duke of Gloucester, occur very frequently.
In domo mommen, Coll. predict, in cista ex oriental! latere.
"In rolls of the reign of Henry the Sixth, the Countess of Westmoreland, sister of
^!r *5?au *>£ \ mentioned as being entertained in the college; and in her retinue were
the Minstrels of her household, who received gratuities." Ex. Rot, Comp. Orig.
§96
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
In the reign of Edward the IV. a period at which we are now
arrived, Music, after long living a vagrant life, and being passed
from parish to parish, seems at length, by the favour of this
monarch, to have acquired a settlement; for it appears that by his
letters patent under the great seal of his realm of England, bearing
date the 24th of April, 1469, in the ninth year of his reign, that this
prince did, "for him and his heirs, give and grant licence unto
Walter Haliday, Marshall, John Cuff, and Robert Marshall, Thomas
Grane, Thomas Calthome, William Cliff, William Christian, and
William Eyneysham, then MINSTRELS of the said king, that they
by themselves should be in deed and name one body and cominality,
perpetual and capable in the law, and should have perpetual
succession ; and that as well the minstrels of the said king, which
then were, as other minstrels of the said king and his heirs which
should be afterwards, might at their pleasure name, chuse, ordeine,
and successively constitute from among themselves, one marshaU,
able and fit to remain in that office during his life, and also two
wardens every year, to govern the said Fraternity and Guild,
&c. (o)."
The original charter is preserved in Rymer's Foedera (p) : and
in the eleventh year of Charles the First [1636], when that monarch
was petitioned to grant a new patent to the professors of the art and
science of music, the form of that which had been from Edward the
Fourth was made the ground-work of the new charter.
Another important musical regulation of this reign is recorded in
a book entitled Liber Niger Domus Regis, in which is an account of
the houshold establishment of King Edward the Fourth, of the
several musicians retained in his service, as well for his private
amusement as for the service of his chapel.
As this seems the origin of those musical establishments of the
chapel royal, and king's band, which still subsist, I shall give the
account of them and their several employments, at full length, from
this ancient book, as published, with additions, by Batman.*
"Minstrelles thirteene, thereof one is Virger, which directeth them
all festyvall dayes in their statyones of blowings and pypyngs to
such offices as the offycerers might be warned to prepare for the
king's meats and soupers; to be more redyere in all services and due
tyme ; and all thes sytying in the hall together, whereof some be
trompets, some with shalmes and smalle pypes, and some are strange
mene coming to this court at fyve f eastes of the year, and then take
(o) This incorporation of Minstrels resembles that of the flute-players among the Romans.
See note (g) Book i. p. 481. When the French Minstrels, about a century before the charter
was granted by Edward IV. were incorporated by charter, they had a King set over them.
Marshal (Marescattus, from the German, Marschals, i.e., Equitwn Magister) was, however, a
title of great dignity, and, in some cases, of extensive power: as Earl Marshal of England,
Marshal of the King's House, Marshal of the Justices in Eyre, &c. Field Marshal is still
a title of great honour.
' (*) Tom. xi. pro Fraternitate Minstrallorum Regis.
Rex omnibus ad Quos, &c. Salutem. Sciatis quod ex Querelosa Insinuation, Dilectorum
nobis, Walter! Haliday, Marescalli, Johannis Cliff, &c Several of the Musicians specified in
this charter had been in the service of Henry the Sixth, as appears by a precept, which is
likewise preserved in Rymer, and has for title De Ministrallis prosier Solatium Regis
providendis.
* See Burney's correction of this reference in Vol. II., chapter I, note (£).
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
their wages of houshold, after iiij d. ob. by daye, after as they
have been presente at courte, and then to avoyd aftere the
next morrowe aftere the feaste, besydes their other rewards
yearly in the King's Exchequer, and clothinge with the
houshold, wintere and somere for eiche of them xxs. And they
take nightelye amongste them all iiij galanes ale; and for wintere
seasone thre candles waxe, vj candles pich, iiij tale sheids (#);
lodging suffytente by the herbengere for them and their horses
nighteley to the courte. Aulso hailing into courte ij servants to bear
their trompets, pypes, and other instruments, and torche for wintere
nightes, whilst they blow to support of the chaundry; and alway
two of thes persones to contynewe stylle in courte at wages by the
cheque rolle whiles they be presente iiij ob. dayly, to warne the
king's ridynge houshold when he goeth to horsbacke as oft as it
shaH require, and that his houshold meny may followe the more
redyere aftere by the blowing of their trompets. Yf any of thes two
minstrelles be lete bloode in courte, he taketh two loves, ij messe of
greate meate, one galone ale. They part not at no tyme with the
rewards given to the houshold. Also when it pleasethe the king to
have ij minstrelles continuinge at courte, they will not in no wise
that thes minstrelles be so famylliere to aske rewards.
"A WAYTE, that nightelye from Mychelmas to Shreve
Thorsdaye pipethe watche withen this courte fower tymes; in the
somere nightes iij tymes, and makethe bon gayte at every chambere
doare and offyce, as well for feare of pyckeres and pilleres (r). He
eateth in the halle with mynstrielles, and takethe lyverey at nighte a
loffe, a galone of alle, and for somere nightes ij candles pich, a bushel
of coles; and for wintere nights half a loaf of bread, a gallon of ale,
iiij candles piche, a bushel coles; daylye whilste he is presente in
courte for his wages in cheque roale allowed iiij d. ob. or else iij, d.
by the discresshon of the steuarde and tressorere, and that, aftere
his cominge and diseruinge: also clothinge with the houshold
yeomen or mynstrelles like to the wages that he takethe, and he be
syke he taketh twoe loves, ij messe of greate meate, one gallon ale.
Also he partethe with the housholde of general gyfts, and hathe his
beddinge carried by the comptrollers assygment; and under this
yeoman to be a groome watere. Yf he can excuse the yeoman in
his absence, that he takethe rewarde, clotheinge, meat, and all other
things lyke to other grooms of houshold. Also this yeoman-
waighte, at the making of Knightes of the Bathe, for his attendance
upon them by nighte-tyme, in watching in the chappelle, hath to his
fee all the watchinge-clothing that the knight shall wear uppon
him (s).
"CILDREN OF THE CHAPELLE viij, founden by the king's
priuie cofferers for all that longeth to their apperelle by the hands and
(q) Fire-wood, cleft and cut into billets.
(r) Bon Gayic. good watch, from the French. Bon guet chasse malaventure. Prov.
(s) Here we have another instance of costly robes being bestowed on musicians See
above, p. 623 et seq.
698
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
oversyghte of the deane, or by the master of songe assigned to teache
them, which mastere is appointed by the deane, chosen one of the
nomber of the felowshipe of chappelle after rehearsed, and to draw
them to other schooles after the form of sacotte, as well as in songe
in orgaines and other. Thes children eate in the hall dayly at the
chappell board, nexte the yeomane of uestery; taking amongeste
them for lyverye daylye for brekefaste and all nighte, two loves, one
messe of greate meate, ij galones ale; and for wintere seasone iiij.
candles piche, iij talsheids, and lyttere for their pallets of the serjante
usher, and carry adge of the king's coste for the competente beddynge
by the oversyghte of the comptrollere. And amongeste them all to
have one servante into the court to trusse and bear their harnesse
and lyverye in court. And that day the king's chappelle remoueth
every of thes children then present receaueth iiij d. at the Grene
Clothe of the Comptyng-house for horshire dayly, as long as they
be jurneinge. And when any of these Children comene to xviij
years of age, and their uoyces change, ne cannot be preferred in
this Chapelie, the nombere being full, then yf they will assente the
King assynethe them to a College of Oxeford or Cambridge of his
foundatione, there to be at fyndyng and studye bothe suffytyently,
till the King may otherwise aduance them."
And now, finding that the present Chapter is extended to a
greater number of pages than I had imagined my materials would
supply, in order to terminate that, and all which I shall say
concerning treatises that were written on the subject of music
previous to printing, or at least to the invention of types to represent
musical characters, I shall close this period with an account of two
inedited MS. Tracts, written in English, that have been carefully
examined in libraries of our universities, with the design of
communicating their contents to my readers, and which indeed
should have been mentioned sooner.
I. At the end of the volume of musical MSS. in Benet College
Library, Cambridge (t), which contains the Treatise by Walter
Odington (u), there is a fragment of an old English Tract, which
by the writing, Saxon letters, and abbreviations, seems to have been
transcribed about the beginning of the fifteenth century.
" Here begineth a shorte Treatyse of the Rule of DISCANT.
It is to witt that ther are accordaunce withouten noumber, but
ther are ix in use, whych ix be these : the Unison, the thyrde, the
ffyfte, the sixte, the eyght, the tenth, twelfth, thirteenth, and the
fyfteenth. Of the whyche No. fyve are perfyte Cordys. The fyve
perfyte Cordys be these: the Unison, the ffyfte, the eyghth, the
twelfth, and the fyfteenth. Of the whyche first perfyte ther are
f ul perfite and ther are less perfite. The full perfite are these : the
Unison, the eyghth, and fyfteenth. The two less perfite are the
ffyfte, and twelfth. The imperfite Cordys are the thyrde, the sixte,
the tenth, and the thyrteenth, and so with these Accordys of
(t) No. 410. 25 N. (**) Vide supra p. 516.
699
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
DISCANT any Discanter may both rise and faul with the Playne
Song," &c.
II. At Oxford, likewise, in the same volume as Thienred of
Dover's Treatises (*), there is another fragment of an English
Tract on the subject of Discant, by Richard Cutell. It appears
to be of nearly the same age as the preceding anonymous Tract in
Benet College, and to contain the same doctrine.*
Compositio Ricardi Cuteli de London
"It is to wit that there are ix. acordes in discant, that is to say
1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, || of the whilke ix. 5 are perfite
accordes and 4 imperfite. The 5 perfite are 1, 5, 8, 12, 15, and
of these 5, 3 er ful acordes, that is to say, 1, 8 & 15 || and 2 er lesse
perfite, that is to say, 5 & 12. And iiij. imperfite accordes are theis
3, 6, 10, 13, it is knawn by the old techying that a man shalle take
bot on perfite of a kynd to-gedyr, as on 5, on 8, on 5. But it is
leuyd [leaved or permitted] to take 2 perfite acordes togedyr of
diuerse kyndes as a 5 and one 8 || or a 12, and a 15, but neuer 2 of
on kynd.
" And of alle imperfite accordes it is leueful to take iij, iiij, or 5
of a kynd and the pleynsong ascend or descend but neuer and it
be in on lyne || as fa fa fa |[ or sol sol sol || then shall a man
take diuerse acordes of diuerse kyndes || whedirsum euer they be
perfite or imperfite.
" Also the old techying was that a man shul neuer take none
imperfite acord but yf he hade a perfite after hym || as after a 3 a
5, & after an 8 a 12, & after a 13 a 15, || bot now it is leuyd by
the techers of descant j| that after a 3 a man may take a 6 ||
or after a 6 a man may take a ten || he may not do wrang so that
he kepe rewell [rule] a-foreseyd.
"Also it is to wit that if you have a pleyn song that descendes
as fa ut or fa re or fa my or la re and there be an imperfite acord
with the hear-note [higher note] thou shalt never descend out of
the hear-not || out of the imperfite acord into a perfite acord with
the louer note. || Then neuer ascendying of the same wyse. And
also it is to wit that there are 3 degrees of discant, that is to say,
Mene, Treble, and Quatreble. The mene bygynnis in the 5,
a-bowyn the playne song in voys and with the playn song in seyghte.
And the quatreble bygynis in the 12, a-bowyn the playn song in
voys and with the playnsong in syghte. To the mene langes
properly 5 accordes that is to say, the unisone 3, 5, 6, and the 8.
To the treble langes propyrly 5 accordes also the 5, the 6, the 8,
10, the 13: To the Quatreble langes propyrly 5 accordes also that
is to say, the |] viij, the x, xij, xiij, the xv. Also it is to wit that
alle the accordes of discant ben a-bown [are above] the playne
(*) Bodl. 842. .
*This is practically a transcript of the earlier part of the treatise by Chflston described on
p. 634. In the Bodleian MS. it is entitled Opinio Ricardi Cutelle de London.
Richard Cutell was probably the name of the person who made the copy.
THE STATE OF MUSIC TO 1450
song in voys sane one that is the j [first]. Neuerthe-lesse the
sighte of discant is snm-tyme beneth the playne songe and sum-tyme
a-bown & sum-tyme with the playne songe. And so the discanter
of the mene sal begynne hijs discant with the playne songe in
syghte as I sayd before and v. a-bown in voys. And the 5 beneth
in sight is euyn with the playnsonge in one soad."*
"Also it is skylful that aile Discant bygone and end in a perfite
acorde, &c."
The dividing the Perfect Concords into more and less perfect,
seems peculiar to this period, as does the exclusion of the fourth
from the Catalogue; and as no Discords are mentioned, it is natural
to suppose that they were not yet admitted into Composition.
The English Tracts in the Shelburn MS. by Lyonel Power and
Chilston, which have been already mentioned, and these Fragments,
however inconsiderable they may appear, will not, it is hoped, be
without their use, to those who have a curiosity concerning the
Progress of Music in our own country, as they will enable them
at once to judge of the state of our Musical Language as well as
composition, at this early period.
The GERMANS, who, during the past and present century,
have so much contributed to the perfection of Counterpoint, and
the refinement of every species of Instrumental Music, had doubt-
less songs at this time in their own language, set to Melodies formed
upon the Guidp Scale, and accompanied with such Harmony as
was then used in the rest of Europe; but I have been able to procure
none.
With respect to their Language and Lyric Poetry, though it
appears from Tactius (y), that in Germany, the Common Mother
of the Saxons, Franks, and Lombards, letters were wholly unknown;
and though Reinesius (z) tells us, that in the time of Ammainus
Marcellinus, the inhabitants of that county were not in possession
of an alphabet; yet we are assured from Bede, that the Saxons
had Poetry and Songs in the eighth Century; and it is generally
agreed that one of the first attempts at writing in a vulgar tongue
was made by Otfrid, in the ninth Century, who translated the
Evangelists into German, making use of the Roman Alphabet (a).
Otfrid was a Monk of Weissemberg; his translation was in verse,
and dedicated to Lewis the Second, brother to Charles the Bald.
The most ancient Music, applied to German words, that I can
discover, was that set to the Hymns of the first Reformers. Some
of those written by John Huss, the Disciple of Wickliff, and
companion of Jerom of Prague, with whom he suffered at the stake,
(y) Mor. G. c. 12. W I* £'«/• *& J™- Ani-
(a) Verona Illustr. To. 19.
* The above is W. Chappell's transcription of Cutelli's tract (see The Choir, April 9, 1870),
in place of Burney's, which is incorjrect in some particulars.
70T
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
by order of the Council of Constance, in 1415, are said to be still
preserved in the Protestant Libraries of Germany. But though I
have not yet been able to procure transcripts of them, nor of any
other German Music of equal antiquity, the Theorists and Composers
of that country will be well intitled to a very considerable share
of the honour due to the Cultivators of Harmony, in the subsequent
part of this work.*
*The story of music in Germany is similar to the story of music in other countries. There
are records of early .Hymns in the common language as far hack as the gth cent. The work
of the Troubadours is paralleled by that of the Minnesingers who flourished between the I2th
and I3th cent. These gave way to the Mastersmgers who appear on the scene about 1311.
when Jfeinnch von Meissen founded a Guild of Singers at Mainz. Schools of Mastersmgers
existed until <rQ<"v
The iise of the Chorale, a significant feature of German religious and musical life, is dealt
with in the next volume.
762
Chapter V
Of the State of Music, from the Invention of
Printing till the Middle of the XVTtH Century;
including its Cultivation in the Masses, Motets
and secular Songs of that Period
WE are now arrived at an .^Era when the principal materials
for musical composition are prepared; when a regular and
extensive scale for Melody, a code of general laws for
Harmony, with a commodious Notation and Time-table, seem to
furnish the Musician with the whole mechanism of his art; and if
the productions of this period do not fulfil our present ideas of
excellence, we must attribute their deficiences neither to want of
knowledge nor genius in their authors, but to the Gothic trammels
in which music was still bound.
The faculties of man are not only limited by nature, but by the
horizon with which he is surrounded : if he lives in a polished state
and enlightened times, his views will doubtless be extended; but it
is allowed to no individual to penetrate much farther into the
regions of science than his cotemporaries. Our Shakspeare,
Dryden, Bacon, Locke, and Newton, sublime as were their
conceptions, and original their genius, found much already done,
in their several departments, by their predecessors.
Music being the object of a sense common to all mankind, if
genius alone could invent and bring it to perfection, why is China,
which has been so long civilized, still without great composers and
performers? And why are the inhabitants of three-fourths of the
globe still content, and even delighted with attempts at such music
as Europeans would qualify with no better title than noise and
jargon? It cannot be supposed that nature is entirely to blame,
and that there is a physical defect in the intellects or organization
of all the sons of men, except in Europe; and that a perfect ear,
and the power of delighting it, are local. As the eye accom-
modates itself to all the gradations of light and obscurity, so does
the ear to such gratifications as are within its reach; and the people
accustomed to bad music enjoy it contentedly, without languishing
for better. It is the curse of an ear long accustomed to
703
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
excellence, to be fastidious and unwilling to be pleased; and
unluckily for the honour of music and musicians, all the miraculous
powers of the art cease the instant perfection becomes common. The
most hyperbolical praises have been bestowed on music and
musicians, when they seem not to have had the least claim to
panegyric; but the best music of every age and nation is delightful
to hearers, whose ideas of excellence are bounded by what they
daily hear: and about the middle of the fifteenth century, though
melody was governed by the ecclesiastical modes, though harmony
was confined to a small number of common chords, and though
measure was unmarked, yet at this period, by their union, practical
musicians among the laity began to acquire great reputation.
It is perhaps unnecessary to remind the reader, that about this time
an important revolution was effected in the civil, religious, military,
and literary interests of the inhabitants of Europe, by the dissolution
of the feudal system, the reformation in religion, the invention of
gunpowder, the mariner's compass, and printing, the taking of
Constantinople, cultivation of the Greek language, and revival of
literature in general. Of these events, all which happened within
the space of about a hundred years, some had a manifest effect
upon music; particularly Printing, and the Reformation. Indeed
neither the art nor science of music had as yet been much cultivated,
except by the clergy, who had contributed greatly to keep its rules
inaccessible to the vulgar, by locking them up in the Latin
language. But the press now, not only multiplying the copies of
Latin treatises at a small expence, but of others in modern languages,
had the same effect in increasing musical productions and theories,
as printing the translation of the Bible and liturgy had in augment-
ing the number of lay-preachers, and writers on the subject of
religion, at the time of the Reformation.
Thus far but little information has been acquired for this
volume, except from manuscript tracts and records : and for these
I have been chiefly indebted to the remains of monkish literature
and diligence : but though the Monks, immured in their convents,
and secluded from all intercourse with those who act the most
important parts in the business of the world, may be well supposed
ignorant of secular events and transactions, concerning which they
must have taken their information upon trust, or had recourse to
conjecture;* yet, with respect to the concerns of their own convents,
and the daily employments of their lives, of which music was one,
they may be safely imagined to have been more competent judges
than those who never visited them; and, unless it was for the
interest of their order, or to confer honour on their patrons and
tenets, neither mendacity nor prejudice was likely to corrupt their
knowledge, or defile their narrations.
* Whilst it may be true that the lower orders of the clergy (apart from the mendicant
fnais) had no great contact with secular affairs, yet it is hard to believe them to have been so
^orant of mendane^ matters as Burney assumes. The Church was intimately concerned with
the whole history of mediaeval Europe, and we have no reason for supposing that the only
educated class (and even its most humble members) would not be aware of the trend of events.
704
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
But though we are arrived at that period when the productions
of the press will considerably diminish the labour of research; yet
the difficulty of finding materials will be now only changed to that
of selection; and the perusal of old music, after it is found, is
attended with much more trouble than literary works of equal
antiquity : for being published and preserved in single parts, these
parts must previously be put into such a state, that the eye may
compare their several relations at one glance; or, to use th'e language
of Musicians, they must be scored, before their beauties or defects
can be discovered, and this, from the difficulty of obsolete notation,
and the want of bars, is rendered a very slow process (a). But
being determined to speak of no music with which I am
unacquainted, or of which I am unable to furnish specimens, I have
transcribed in Partitura, or Score, many volumes, not only of the
same age, but sometimes of the same author, in order to select
the best productions I am able, for my work, or at least to qualify
myself to judge of each composer's abilities and resources. Of the
productions of each period I have endeavoured to procure examples
from the works of those who were the chief favourites of their
cotemporaries, in order to put it in the power of critics in composi-
tion to compare musical excellence, and build their opinions of
superiority upon the works themselves, and not upon system,
conjecture, or prejudice.
From the- decline of the Roman empire to the period under
consideration, but few names of great musicians have come down
to us, though there cannot be the least doubt but that every age
and country in which arts and sciences have been cultivated had
their favorite and popular musician, who contributed more to the
delight of his cotemporaries than the rest of his brethren. But
practical musicians and performers, hawever wqnderful their
powers, are unable, from the transient state of their art, to give
permanence to their fame: age, infirmities, and new phenomena,
soon complete its destruction. To the reputation of a Theorist,
indeed, longevity is insured by means of books, which become
obsolete more slowly than musical compositions.* Tradition only
whispers, for a short time, the name and abilities of a mere
Performer, however exquisite the delight which his talents afforded
to those who heard him; whereas, a theory once committed to paper
and established, lives, at least in libraries, as long as the language
in which it was written.
We are now not certain that Boethius could play a tune, or sing
a song; and yet his name is recorded in every treatise which
(a) The word Score probably originated from the Bar, which in its first use, was drawn
through all the parts, as it should be still, of a piece of music in partition, or partitura. Bars
were first used in canto fermo, to separate the verses of a psalm or hymn, or as signs for
pauses, or resting places, where the singer might take his breath. Morley, who uses no bars in
the single parts of any of his works, has however drawn a score or bar through all the parts of
s ,
several examples of composition, when placed under each other, in his Introduction; where, p.
34, he uses the word partition for this arrangement of the parts, and p. 176, the word bar
occurs.
* In our times a theoretical work may be regarded as out of date on publication.
Vox,. 1. 45 705
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
subsequent ages have produced on the subject of music. Neither
are we sure that Guido and John de Muris were great composers
or performers, and yet their names are embalmed in a way that
will render them more durable than the mummies of Egypt. Tallis
and Bird, who were equally admirable in their musical productions
and execution, are now only known and revered by the curious;
and Rameau and Tartini,* whose compositions and performance
afford such exquisite delight to their age and country, will soon be
remembered only as theorists.
In Dr. Priestley's ingenious Biographical chart, it is remarkable
that not one musician appears from the beginning of the Christian
aera till the eleventh century, where Guido is placed in a desert,
which extends to the sixteenth century, and where Palestrina stands
without a rival or neighbour; nor has all Europe furnished another
musician, whom the author has thought worthy a niche in his chart,
till the time of Lulli.
As many of the great countries of Europe, which are now under
the dominion of one sovereign, were divided into several small
kingdoms, at first under regal authority, like our heptarchy, but
afterwards the successors of these princes acknowledging one
supreme lord, were degraded into barons, counts, and dukes; yet
still retaining great power in their several districts over their vassals
and dependants; so, in the empire of music, there were Kings of the
Minstrels in several countries of Europe, and even cities, and
particular provinces; these charmed and governed only in a narrow
circle; but as an intercourse and communication was opened between
these several petty states, there was soon an opening made for
talents and ambition to aim at universal monarchy, and in tracing
the history of music it seems necessary to record the names and
actions of such as have arrived at this acknowledged pre-eminence.
The musical heroes of antiquity have been celebrated in the
first book of this work; and, as far as we have advanced into more
modern times, the principal actors, governors, and benefactors
in the art and science of music, have been honourably mentioned,
and the peculiar talents and abilities displayed of those whose
sovereignty in Europe seems to have been universally allowed.
1 However, in this parallel between the Lords of the Earth and
Princes of the Pipe and String, distinctions are to be made. Theorists
may be well compared to legislators, whose dominion ends not
with their existence, but continues sometimes with increasing
reverence, long after their decease. With Practical Musicians and
Composers it is very different; the memory of these is of short
duration; for however extensive their power, and splendid their
reign, their empire, like that of Alexander and other rapid
conquerors, acquires no permanence; but as the territories of these
were divided among their captains, so the disciples or followers of
great musical leaders soon appropriate to themselves the revenue
* An example of the folly of prophecy.
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
and reputation of their masters, so entirely, that, when divided
into small portions, they add no great profit or power to the new
possessors, who generally retain and enjoy them in obscurity, till
seized and appropriated by some new and more powerful conqueror.
To pursue the idea of Musical Sovereignty, BOETHIUS may
be regarded as the last ancient, and -first modern who established
a dominion in the Scientific parts of the Musical Empire, to which
all the learned in Europe were long unanimous in submitting.
GUIDO, whose authority continued to increase for many ages
after his decease, and of whose laws many are still in force, was
the next who established a permanent fame among Musical
Monarchs.
JOHN DE MURIS, though it is now hardly known what he
atchieved for the common good, is still more frequently had in
remembrance among Theorists and Practitioners, than any other
chief or legislator who flourished between the time of Guido and
FRANCHINUS GAFURIUS, one of the first Theorists whose
doctrines were disseminated by the press : but as Theory owes its
existence to successful practice, it seems but just to speak first of
those early contrapuntists, whose works have been the basis upon
which the present rules of composition were constructed.
There must, however, have been many Musicians whose works
are lost, between the time of John de Minis and the middle of the
fifteenth century; every art is progressive, and the harmony of
Okenheim, Henry Isaac, and Jusquin du Prez, of which specimens
will hereafter be given, is so superior to that of all the other more
ancient musical productions which I have been able to find, that
there seems to be the difference of two or three centuries between
them; and it is difficult to imagine that such regular composition,
and even learned and ingenious contrivance, could be attained by
the gigantic stride of any one Musician, however superior his genius
may have been to that of all his predecessors.
Rome was pillaged and burnt in the year 1527, by the army of
Charles the Fifth, which may perhaps account for the difficulty of
finding compositions anterior to that time, in this city, which long
continued to be the capital of the arts, after it ceased to be the
capital of the world. Antonfrancesco Doni, in his list of Music,
printed in Italy before the year 1550, at which time he published
the second edition of his Libraria, mentions no names of higher
antiquity than Jusquin and Morales; though he says, if he had
specified all the music which had been then published, he should
have composed a thicker book than any volume of Music that could
be found. Our countryman Morley mentions in the list of practical
musicians or composers on the continent, none more ancient than
Okenheim, and his scholar Jusquin.
Of Englishmen, Pashe, Jones, Dunstable, Power, Orwel,
Wilkinson, Guinneth, Davis, and Rishby, are the most ancient in
his list; but of the compositions of these, who all preceded Fayrfax,
707
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
I have been able to meet with no examples, except of Joseph
Guinneth and Robert Davis, who flourished about the time of
Edward the Fourth, and of whose counterpoint in two parts there
are some fragments at Cambridge, in the Pepysian Collection, in
which red notes are used for diminution.* It is very rude, and
inferior to that of Bonadies, the master of Franchinus, Okenheim,
Hemy Isaac, Jusquin, Fayrfax, and Taverner, who flourished only
about twenty or thirty years later.
By the kind of characters which Dunstable uses in the passages
that Franchinus and Morley have inserted from his Motet, and Veni
Sancte Spiritus, I should imagine his melody very uncouth and
unmeaning; of his harmony, as only one part is given, there is no
judging. Yet still this chasm must have been occasioned by accident,
and the perishable materials upon which the music of other
composers of the fifteenth century has been written.
Something like a chain or series of the writings of Musical
Theorists is preserved; but of Musical Compositions, the collectors
of great libraries throughout Europe have been very negligent.
The Emperor Leopold, indeed, began to form a Musical Library at
Vienna, and the Elector of Bavaria another at Munich in the last
century; but both have been long neglected, and are now in a very
confused and imperfect state (6). Nor is a complete series of musical
compositions by the best masters, from the earliest period of
counterpoint to the present time, to be found in any public or
private library in Europe, to which I have ever had access. Indeed
the collectors of books for royal, collegiate, or public libraries,
seem never to have had an idea of forming any regular plan for
making such a collection; and though many individuals have been
possessed of a rage for accumulating musical curiosities, it has
seldom happened that they have extended their ideas to musical
productions in general; so that no more than one class or species of
composition has been completed by them, and even this, at the
death of the proprietor, is usually dispersed.**
In a library, formed upon so large a scale as that of the King of
France at Paris, the Bodleian, and Museum in England, it seems
as if music should be put on a level with other arts and sciences,
in which every book of character is procured. In a royal or ample
collection of pictures, specimens at least of every great painter are
(b) The late composer Gasman, Maestro di Capella to the present Emperor, told me, that
many works of old masters had been stolen out of the library at Vienna, by Musicians low in
fency; who, after making use of the best movements and passages as their own property, had
destaoyed the originals. This he discovered by the old catalogues, in which innumerable works
were entered, that he was never able to find.
*This is evidently Pepysian MS. No. 1236. No compositions by Guineth or Davis are
to be found in it. Davy in his History of English Music (2nd ed., 1921) p. 80, suggests that
Burney confused the Gymel with Guinneth.
** This state of affairs has long been remedied. For a comprehensive list of the leading
libraries of music see Grove's. (Art. Libraries and Collections, Vol. Hi. £. 152 et seq.)
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
purchased, and no private library is thought complete while the
writings of a single poet of eminence are wanting (c).
Though the number of volumes of music in the British Museum
bears no proportion to those in other faculties, and can hardly be
called a collection, yet some very scarce and valuable compositions
of old masters are preserved in that repository, to which, by the
kindness and friendly zeal of the gentlemen to whose care they are
consigned, I have been indulged with easy and frequent access.
^ The most curious specimens of early counterpoint, among the
printed music in the Museum, are a collection of Masses in four
parts, the first that issued from the press after the invention of
printing. They consist of the first and third set of the Masses which
Jusquin composed for the Pope's Chapel, during the Pontificate of
Sexuts the Fourth, who reigned from 1471 to 1484; the Masses of
Pierre de la Rue [1503], sometimes called Petrus Platensis, a set
of Masses by Anthony de Feven or Feum [1515], Robert de Feven
[1515], and Pierzon [La Rue]. The Masses of John Mouton;
ditto of different composers, (Misses diversorum Auctorum) viz.
Obrecht, Phil. Bassiron, Brumel, Caspar, and de la Rue.
. (c) In forming such a Musical Library as would assist the student, gratify the curious,
inform the historian, and afford a comparative view of the state of the art at every period of
its existence, it were to be wished that the books, when collected, were classed in a way
somewhat like the following: —
From the infancy of Counterpoint to the year 1500.
Masses ) -
Motets ko Latin words.
Madrigals)
languages.
The same continued to the year 1600; to which should be added:
Services and full Anthems ) To English words as
Verse and solo Anthems lr well as those of other
Psalmody, in two or more parts I modem languages.
The same classes completed to the year 1700, with the addition of Masques, Intermezzi.
berenatas,
• i^peras> serious and comic; Oratorios; Cantatas; Fantasias and Recercari. for various
instruments.
All the above continued to the present time, with an addition of full
Concertos, Symphonies, and Overtures; Concertos, with solo parts for particular
instruments; Quintets; Quatuors; Sonatas, or Trios, Duets, and Solos for every Instrument
for which Music has been composed, including Voluntaries for the Organ, and Lessons for
every species of Keyed-instrument,.
The music published in single parts should be scored, and that published in partition,
transcribed in single parts; to be alike ready for the eye or the ear, for the theorist to
examine, or the practical musician to perform.
And in order that science and criticism may keep pace with the mechanism and practice
of the art, all the Treatises, Tracts, and Essays, both in the dead and living languages,
should be collected, arranged chronologically, and assigned a particular portion of the
Library.
The Bodleian Library, the Museum, and Royal Society, with some other libraries, have
copies of new books sent to them, by the Stationers' Company, and by individuals, either
by law or by courtesy; and when once such a foundation of old music is laid as we have
here sketched out, it would soon become a custom, or might be made one by the legislature,
for copies of all Music that is published in England as well as books on the subject, to be
presented by the authors or editors to the Public Library. And the same means should
be used for procuring all Foreign Musical Publications as are employed in accumulating
books from all parts of the globe, where the press is at work.
The Librarian, Custode, or Keeper of these books, should be a good Practical Musician,
as well as theorist and scholar, in order to know the worth of the productions he has in
charge, and to be enabled to give instructions at least how to draw single parts from a
score, and score single parts; to explain difficulties to the ignorant, and display curiosities to
the learned; to know the rank each composer should hold in every class, and perhaps
record the degree of respect that has been paid to him by his cotemporaries, and which is
due to hi™ from posterity.
709
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
All these were printed by Ottavio Petruccio da Fossembrone.*
He first published the Masses of de la Rue at Venice, 1503, and
in 1508 those by different authors. In 1513, removing to
Fossembrone, in the Ecclesiastical State, he obtained a patent
from Leo the Tenth in behalf of his invention of types, for the sole
printing of figurative song, (Cantus Figuratus) and pieces for the
organ (Organorum Intabulaturte) during the term of twenty years
(d). This patent is signed by the learned Cardinal Bembo, Leo's
secretary.
The Masses are followed in this collection by the second, third,
and fourth sets of Latin Motets, in four or five parts, called Mottetti
della corona, from the figure of a crown stamped on the title page.
The words of these excellent compositions consist of short portions
of scripture, and hymns of the Romish church, set by Jusquin,
Caipentras, Mouton, Adrian Willaert, Constantius Festa, and other
great masters of the same period: they were all printed at
Fossembrone, in 1519, by Petruccio, and published with the same
patent as the masses.
It is from these collections that Glareanus has extracted almost
all the examples of style of the early Contrapuntists, which he has
inserted in his Dodecachordon, and to which Zarlino so frequently
referred afterwards as models of perfection in his Harmonical
Institutes, and other writings in speaking of what were even then
(1558) called the old Classical Masters.
The second set of Jusquin's Masses,** and the first set of Motets
(d) W^et^er this music for the organ was expressed by letters or numbers, as
formerly in the tablature for the Lute, Viol de Gamba, &c., or whether it was printed in
two staves oi six and eight lines, like the compositions of Frcscobaldi, is now uncertain, as
they are lost; but we are certain that they could not be scores for the organ, which has been
imagined; as the word and thing were equally unknown for more than a century afterwards.
See above, p. 705.
It has likewise been said that Frescobaldi's pieces for the organ were the first of the
kind produced in Italy; but here is a patent granted for the printing similar productions near
a century before, and Doni gives a list in his Libraria, printed in 1550, under the article,
Ricercari, of more than ten volumes of Tablatures for the organ; Intabolature da Organi, e
da Leut d'Autore da Bologna, di Giulio da Modena, di Francesco da Milan o, di Giaches
Buus, piu di died volumi* e la continua. I have been able to find no memorial of any
other pieces for the organ, printed, published, or even composed, of so high a date as
those printed by Petruccio, under the patent of Leo the tenth. Intavolare and Intavolatura
are general terms in Italy for the notation of music, whether by letters and figures in the
same manner as for the lute, or otherwise.***
* Petrucci was the first to issue any considerable work printed from metal type. Examples
of printing from wood, etc., of an earlier date than Petrucci are to be seen HI the B.M.
The ist set of Mottetti della Corona was published in 1514; the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th sets in
1519. Copies of the last three sets are to be found in the B.M. (K.i. d. 14, 15, and 16) along
with other works from the same press.
The earliest work known to nave been issued by Petrucci dates from 1501, in which year
he published a collection of 96 pieces by Josquin, Isaacs and others, with the title, Harmonice
musues odhecaton. The first printed book of organ tablature was issued in 1512 by Arnold
Schlick.
**Josquin's 2nd book of Masses was printed at Venice in 1503 and reprinted at
Fossombrone in 1515. The B.M. has a copy of the reprint.
1547 Gardano published at Venice a collection of Ricercari da Cantare e sonare
Aorgano, etc., by Jachet Buus. In 1549 Gardano also issued a volume Intabolatura d'organo di
ncercan di M. Giacques Buus. Copy in B.M. In the same year the same publisher printed a
volume of Fantasie e Ricercari, by Adrian Willaert.
Ricercari, or Recercari, was the title given to Solfeggi for the voice, and original
compositions or inventions for instruments, in early times of Counterpoint, before the word
Fantasia supplied its place; and to succeed the terms Concento, Concerto, Sinfonia, Sonata, &c.
7IO
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
are wanting; however, I have seen in no other collection so many
of the works of these venerable masters (e).
But before we present our scientific readers with examples of
composition from these scarce and valuable productions, it will be
necessary, from such scanty records as remain, to resume the clue
of our narrative concerning times somewhat anterior to their
publication.
It has been frequently asserted, upon the authority of Ludovico
Guicciardini, and the Abbe du Bos, that Figurative Harmony
was invented and first cultivated in the Netherlands; but though I
purposely visited the chief cities there, both hi the Austrian and
French dominions, in order to ascertain a fact so important to the
history of music, the inhabitants were never able to furnish such
examples of early composition as will put the matter out of dispute.
And to confess the truth, I have always regarded the testimony of
L. Guicciardini and the Abbe du Bos as alike suspicious.
L. Guicciardini, who was a renegade Italian, settled at Antwerp,
in the service of the Emperor Charles the Fifth, seems in his History
of the Low Countries, determined to give the people among whom
he lived the honour of every useful as well as ornamental invention,
in order to flatter his patron and benefactors, even at the expence
of his nfetive country, from which he had no farther hopes. The
Abb6 du Bos, from a contrary principle, wished to give the honour
to the Flemings, in order to pilfer it from them afterwards in favour
of his own country, France (/). But if we may believe John
Tinctor, who was himself a native of Flanders, and the most
ancient composer and theorist of that country, whose name is upon
record, it was the English, with John Dunstable at their head (g),
who invented and first cultivated florid counterpoint, or figurative
harmony. As bare assertions of this kind in favour of our country-
men, without proof, would not sufficiently authenticate the fact, I
shall insert here an extract which I made at Bologna, from an
inedited tract written by John Tinctor, and preserved, with other
MS. treatises of the same author, in the library of the canons regular
of S. Saviour, in that city; to which P. Martini referred me, upon
asking him by what nation he thought music in parts, or simultaneous
harmony, was first cultivated.
(e) The printed copies which are now in the British Museum were formerly in the
possession of the noble families of Arundel and Lumley, whose signatures appear in the
title page of each volume.
(/) The Abbe du Bos, as Voltaire observes, has seen, heard, and reflected upon the
fine arts, and he must be allowed to be an elegant writer, and an ingenious, I would have
said a just, reasoner, if he had not been too frequently warped by the Amor Patnee, which
is but too visible in many of his decisions. He not only determines, without sufficient proof,
that the French and Flemings cultivated music before the Italians; but, wholly unacquainted
with the compositions of other parts of Europe, asserted that there was no music equal to
that of Lulli, only known and admired in France. And where will he be believed, except
in that kingdom, when he says that foreigners allow his countrymen to understand time
and measure better than the Italians? He never loses an opportunity of availing himself of
the favourable opinions of foreigners in behalf of French music, against that of other parts
of Europe. Not only L. Guicciardini, but Addison, Gravina, and Vossius, aU equally
unacquainted with the theory, practice, or history of the art, and alike deprived of candour,
by the support of some favourite opinion or hypothesis, are pressed into the service of his
country.
(g) See above, p. 677.
711
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The title of this particular Tract is, Proportionate Musices; it
is addressed to Ferdinand Bang of Sicily, Jerusalem, and Hungary,
who reigned from 1458, to 1494, by John Tinctor, Chaplain, and
Maestro di Capella to that Prince (k). The passage which confers
on the English the honour of having invented Figurative Harmony
is the following (i) : — Cujus, ut ita dicam, novae Artis fons et origo
(Contrapuncti) apud Anglos, quorum caput Dunstaple extitit, fuisse
perhibetur. Et huic contemporanei fuerunt in Gallia, Dufai, et
Binchois; quibus immediate successerunt moderni, Okenheim,
Busnois, Regis et Caron, omnium, quos audiverim, in compositione
praestantissimi : nee Anglici nunc licet vulgariter jubilare, Gallici
vero cantare dicantur veniunt conferendi. Illi etenimin dies novos
cantus novissime inveniunt; at isti, quod miserrimi signum est
ingenii, una semper et eidem compositione utuntur. Sed, prob
dolor! non solum eos imo complures alios compositores famosos,
quos miror, dum tarn subtiliter, ac ingeniose, tarn incomprehensibili
suavitate componunt, mors abripuit. — " Of which new art, as I
may call it, the fountain and source is said to have been among
the English, of whom Dunstable was the chief. And with him
were cotemporaiy in France, Dufai and Binchois, whose immediate
successors were the moderns, Okenheim, Busnois, Roi, and Caron,
who of all the composers I ever heard were the most excellent; nor
can the English, who are proverbially said to shout, while the
French sing (ft), now come in competition with them. For the
latter invent new melodies eveiy day (Z), but the former
continue to make use of one and the same style of composition,
which betrays a miserable poverty of invention (m). But, alas ! death
hath deprived us, not only of these, but of many other famous
masters whom I admire for the subtility, ingenuity, and
inconceivable sweetness of their compositions."
Glareanus, who wrote in 1547, calls those compositions ancient,
which were in use about seventy years before his time; nor does he
believe that music in four parts subsisted, a century more early. His
Dodecachordon was published during the last year of Henry the
Eighth, and our John of Dunstable, who died in 1455 [1453], must
have flourished about the time when Glareanus imagines music in
four parts to have been first composed. Now as his tenor parts,
which have been quoted by Franchinus Gafforus (n), prove, that
(h\ Johannis Tinctoris, Musica Professoris, Proportionate Musices incipit.—Et <brimo
Proewaum. - Sanctissimo et invictissimo Principi Divo Ferdinando, regis regum Dominique
dominantium Providentia, Regi Sicilies, Gierusalem et Ungaria, Johannes Tinctor, inter
Musicae Professores, suosque Capillanos, minimus.
(t) This passage has been already cited, p. 677, but incompletely, as I could not then
find my extract, which is here given more fully.
. (k) This alludes to national characters which I have seen in several books that were
written during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and which were at first probably circulated
by one of the natives of France, as no others are allowed to sing. Of these characters we
shall have occasion to speak farther hereafter.
A S JK seJems t°J11^ °^lici m the extende<l sense of the Abbe du Bos, and to include
the Netherlanders and Flemings.
. (m) This is an accusation .from which I fear it will be difficult to defend my countrymen,
m the early days of counterpoint; as the chief part of their learning and genius was employed
in varying and harmonizing old melodies.
(n) Pr&ct. Music ts, lib. ii. cap. 7. and Kb. iii. cap. 4.
712
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
he had written in several parts, and as the invention of music of this
kind is given to him by Tinctor, who was nearly his cotemporary,
I should be guilty of great ingratitude, as an Englishman, if I did
not accept of the present, in the name, and for the use of my
countryman.
However, as to the invention of simple counterpoint, that is an
honour for which we shall not contend, as the point has been given
up already (o); but that he was at least one of the first who
composed and wrote upon the subject of figurative harmony,
consisting of three or four different melodies moving together in
consonance, a considerable time before the Flemings or
Netherlanders had distinguished themselves, or were dispersed all
over Europe, which was the case during the next century, it is not
only easy to believe, but to demonstrate. Tinctor and Franchinus,
the first writers upon music in Italy, whose works were printed, not
only quote Dunstable as a theorist, but insert fragments of his
compositions to illustrate their rules of practice.
These writers mention two other composers in France, Dufai
and Binchois, who were nearly cotemporary with Dunstable; but
neither they, nor any other authors whom I have ever consulted,
have recorded the name of any Flemish musician more ancient than
John Okenheim*, whom Tinctor enumerates among the moderns
that were living in his own time (p).
From this period we shall not only find the names of musicians
who distinguished themselves in almost every part of Europe, but
shall be able to produce specimens of their works; which will be
more satisfactory to our musical readers than all the praise, censure,
or description of their style and abilities, which ingenuity and the
most flowery language can furnish.
But before we exhibit any of the productions of these fathers of
Figurative Harmony, it will be necessary to explain the characters
in which they were originally written, and form them into a diagram,
or time table, in order to facilitate their perusal; for though we
shall exempt the reader from the difficulty of comparing the
separate parts, by placing them over each other, in score, and
dividing the measures by bars, yet the square notes and ligatures
which will frequently occur, would be unintelligible to those who are
unacquainted with any longer notes than semibreves, if not
previously apprised of their respective duration. To write this
ancient music in modern notes would deprive it of its venerable
appearance, and the learned reader of an opportunity of judging
whether it has been copied with care and fidelity; and indeed a
promise was made to the reader in a former chapter (q), that
as soon as we were arrived at Music in parts, worthy of
contemplation, the subject of Time should again be resumed, and
this seems the fittest place for its performance,
(o) See above, p. 677. (£) See p. 677. (q) Page 539.
* Obrecht, who is supposed to have been bom at Utrecht about 1430, may be mentioned
with Okenheim.
713
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Franchinus, one of the most ancient Theorists whose doctrines
first issued from the press after the invention of printing, speaks of
but five different characters by which Musicians measured time:
UMMM! !«J
these were the Maxima, or Large l-™"""j ; the Long, H ; Breve, Q »
01 I
, v , , . But other writers, early in the
Sixteenth Century, added to these the Crotchet, J ; Quaver, $ ;
and Semiquaver, R the Italians call Semiminima, Croma, and
Semicroma, or Biscroma. And in compositions of the latter end of
the fifteenth century, particularly in the celebrated Mass, I'Homme
Arme, of Jusquin, which is so frequently cited by almost every
writer on Music of the sixteenth Century, Crotchets and Quavers
frequently occur.
Musical Characters used in Morley's Time, with their equivalent
Rests.
A Large Rest Long Breve Semibreve Minim Crotchet Quaver Semiquaver
The Semibreve, which is now our longest note, was, at this time,
placed in the middle of the Diagram; and it seems at all times to
have been the Unit, or Standard Measure, by which other notes
were multiplied or divided : as a Large was equal, in common time,
to eight Semibreves, a Long to four, and a Breve to two; whence
the appellation of Semibreve.
All this is extremely simple and easy for those, who are
acquainted with the characters used in Modern Music, to
comprehend ; but the great difficulty in old compositions, without
bars, is- in movements of Triple, or as it was called Perfect-time,
where, without a point, a Long was equal to three Breves, and a
Breve to three Semibreves.
The initial Characters, or Modal Signs, placed at the beginning
of a Movement, and their several powers, are almost innumerable,
and always seem to have been subjects of dispute and perplexity,
in the writings of the clearest and best Theorists of the sixteenth
century. However, all measure was then, as well as at present,
reducible to two standards of proportion, the Ternary and Binary,
or perfect and imperfect, which we now call Triple and Common
Time.
The Modes, or Moods, for ascertaining the quantum of each
pulsation of time, were the following :
O 03 for a perfect Long, or three Breves.
0 a perfect Breve, or three Semibreves.
C Two imperfect Breves, and, in the compositions of Tallis and
Bird, sometimes three Minims.
C An imperfect Breve, or two Semibreves.
714
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
Besides these, there were others, for a species of Jig-time, in
which Semibreves or Minims were Ternary, and moving in Triplets,
while the longer notes were Binary: 03. 02. C3. &c. (r).
Ligatures were used by the early Contrapuntists, in vocal Music,
to connect such sounds as were to be sustained or sung to one
syllable, as is done at present by semicircular marks, called binding-
notes and slurs. The rules for these are too numerous and vague to
be explained without a long discussion, and their powers will perhaps
be best comprehended in the examples of ancient composition of
different parts, in partition, and barred. However, it may be useful
to those who undertake to decipher such Music, to remember, that
all the square notes in ligature, with tails on the right hand,
descending, are Longs ; on the left, Breves ; and all with tails on
the left, ascending, are Semibreves. Square notes, without tails, in
ligature, are in general Breves, though there are some exceptions to
this rule, for which it is not easy to assign a cause.
Ligatures explained by equivalent Notes.
Expl. Expl. Expl. Expl. ExpL
_
"Black", square, and lozenge notes, when mixed with white, are
diminished one fourth of the value they have, while open or vacuate.
And a note partially black, or demivacuate, is struck twice, in the
following proportions:
Expl. Expl. Expl. Expl.
The different use of Points by the Old Masters is extremely
perplexing: there were four in the time of Zarlino (s), which must
necessarily be distinguished in the perusal of Old Compositions.
1. The point of Perfection was added only to such note as by the
Modal Signs was in itself perfect, or equal to three notes of
the next less in value, but made imperfect by position. Q G
are points of perfection in the Modal Signs.
2. The point of Augmentation is that still in common use after
every species of note; but which the old Masters used only
in common, or, as they called it, imperfect time : (3 (jj
(r) Zacconi, Prat. Mu$. lib. ii. cap. 54. makes the Modal Signs amount to fourteen.
(s) Ubi supra, p. 274.
715
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
3. The point of Division, or Imperfection, is placed between two
shorter notes that follow and precede two longer, in perfect
Modes, to render both the long notes imperfect.
In all these examples the longer notes are, as in common time,
imperfect, or equal to two of shorter duration, and the point is
neither sung nor played. If, instead of the second note, a rest be
placed before the point, its eftect is the same.
4. The point of Alteration, or, more properly, of Duplication, is
placed before two shorter notes preceding a longer, in order
to double the length of the second short note (t).
In all these instances, the fourth note is as long again as the
third.*
In early times of Counterpoint, human voices of different
compass, occasioned by age, sex, and natural organ, were classed
and divided into four distinct kinds, at the distance only of a third
above each other, which the Base, or F Clef, placed from line to
line, expressed. The lowest of these was called the Tenor, the next
Contratenor, Motetus the third, and Triplum the highest, or Treble]
of which term, this was the origin.
After this, about the middle of the fifteenth century, as different
parts began to be multiplied, the scale received six divisions :
Base, Baritono, Tenor, Contralto, Mezzo Soprano, and Soprano.
The natural pitch of these is about three or four notes above each
other, as their several Clefs, which originally served as barriers,
will discover.
It seldom happens that a voice has more than ten real, steady,
and full, natural notes in its compass, without a mixture of falset,
which, being of a different register, is easily discovered (u). The
following are the names and usual extent of the several species of
human voice.
i Base 2 Baritono 3 Tenor 4 Contralto 5 M ezxo Soprano 6 Soprano
(*) Rests placed in this manner, at the beginning of a movement, were indicial stens of
prolafaon, and to ascertain tjie perfection or imperfection of the moods. "«""« »SHS w
(«) See Tosi, Obs. on Florid Song, p. 22, et sea,.
716
aiticle °n Notation fa <**"' ^ * P. 654, for a
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
But as there are sometimes Base voices which go down to double
F, and even lower; so there are in the Treble, among modern vocal
phenomena, singers that go higher than F in altissimo; which
make the whole Diapason of voices exceed four Octaves (x).
But though parts were multiplied, not only to six, but even
thirty-six, before the close of the fifteenth century, as we shall have
farther occasion to relate hereafter; yet the general, and established
number, in the Pope's Chapel, by which probably all other Choral
Service was regulated, amounted to no more than four: Cantus,
Altus, Tenor, and Base (y).
When an additional part was wanting, it was called Quinta
pars; and, if still another was added, Sexta pars.
(x) In the fifteenth and sixteenth century, the ambition of composers and singers seems
to have been the approaching the great abyss, by an extension of the scale downwards; as in
scoring music of those times 1 have frequently met with passages in the base as low as double
D, and even C! Every lover of music must, on the contrary, have observed of late years
singers possessed of a centrifugal passion, and a rage for extraordinary altitudes, as much
as if the apotheosis depended on such flights. Agujari, an admirable singer, in other respects,
in fluted-notes used to out-top the compass of modern harpsichords, reaching to g in altissimo:
but Madame Le Brun astonishes, with two or three notes of still higher absurdity! !
(y) As these were the principal colours on a Coniposer's pallet, which he blended at
his pleasure, and sometimes varied his tints by additional mixtures, it may be necessary to
acquaint the reader with thef importance in which they were held by Musicians.
All written music, in counterpoint, was at this time composed for voices, at least I have
never seen any other; and. being intended for the church, was set to Latin words; so that
the first terms used in the art, were likewise in that language. And these were so numerous
about the year 1474, that John Tinctor collected them under the title of Terminorum Musica
Diffinitorium, and printed them at Naples. This was doubtless not only the first Musical
Dictionary that was ever compiled, but the first book that was printed on the subject of music
in general. The work is so scarce that I have never been able to find it. except in his
Majesty's inestimable Library, abounding with scarce, valuable, and beautiful copies of the
most precious productions of the press. And I was not only allowed to consult this > rare
book in the Royal Library, but was honoured with the singular indulgence of a permission
to transcribe it at my own house: for which I was the more solicitous, as it seemed of the
greatest importance to my inquiries into the progress of the art at this early period, to have
a precise idea of the acceptation in which these technical terms were then used.*
* CANTUS. Canto, Cantilena, Soprano, Ital. Chant, Dessus, Fr. Gesang. die hockste
unterden singe-stimmen. Germ. Treble, supreme part, in counterpoint.
ALTUS, Contralto, It. Hautre-contre, Fr. Alt:stimme. Germ. That melody, among the
four principal parts in a vocal chorus, which is assigned to the highest natural voice of man.
TENOR. Tenore, It. Taille, Fr. Tenor-stimme, Germ. That part which holds the middle
and most common pitch, among male voices. The word is derived from teneo, I hold, being
that part in discant which sustains the notes of the canto fermo, while the other parts are
moving in dissimilar melodies. Du Cange gives an instance of its use in 1407, ex Bibl. Keg.
and from Zobinelli's Hist. Britan. to ii. col. 962. Jehan Tromelin Tenour de la Chapette de
Monseigneur Ixx. i. par an. The tenor part is likewise mentioned in the Roman de la Rose:
Et ckante haut a plaine louche
Motets, gattdis & Teneurc.
The Tenor part in music has been compared to the Pole of a coach, which couples and
holds together the horses by which it is drawn.
BASSUS. Basso. It. Basse, Fr. Grund-stimme, die tieffte stimme einer Harmonic, Germ.
The term appears in no composers, before Jusquin. It is derived from Basts, by Zarhno and
others, and said to imply the fundamental sounds upon which all Harmony and even
Melody is constructed. Others are of opinion that the Latin, which is barbarous, came from
the Italian Basso, low, and so has got admission into all modern languages with a double s.
The word is not inserted in Tinctor's Diffinitorium. . . . , t
Teofilo Folingio, of Mantua, the poet, has facetiously, and with some degree of precision,
described the four principal parts in Music, in as many macaronic verses.
Plus ascoltantum Sopranus captat orrecckias.
Sed Tenor est vocum rector, vel guida tonorutn.
Altus Apollineutn carmen depingit et ornat.
Bassus alit voces, ingrassat, fundat, et auget.
The Treble chiefly captivates the vulgar ear;
But the Tenor is the Ruler of Voices, and guide of tones:
The Counter-Tenor colours and ornaments the Lyric Poem;
While the Base feeds, enriches, supports, and completes the harmony.
* A copy of this work, the first dictionary of musical terms, is now in the B.M, (King's
Lib., 66 e., »x). Two other copies are known, one of which is at Vienna.
717
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Now the several parts of the scale are appropriated to different
voices, I shall proceed to shew my musical reader, what harmonies
were chiefly used in accompanying the eight notes of the scale,
ascending and descending from any given note, and it seems my
business carefully to • remark the gradual changes, that have
happened in melody and harmony , from this period. With respect
to melody, its flights will ever be so wild and capricious, as to elude
all laws, or require a new code every year; it is as subject to change,
as the surface of the sea, or the fluctuating images of an active
mind. But harmony is somewhat more permanent; however, that
cannot be long fixed by immutable laws, as will be shewn in the
course of this work, where we shall present our readers, from time
to time, with the general harmony, which was given to each note
of the base, in the ascent and descent of the Diatonic Scale; which
the French, during the present century, have distinguished by the
title of Regie de I' Octave (2).
Tartini has remarked, with great truth, that there was no
modulation in the modes or keys of the fifteenth century, but what
intrinsically belongs to the tone or key proposed; and all the music
of those times remains perfectly and rigorously in the Diatonic
Scale (a).
The purity at present seems monotonous, but perhaps the want
of variety in the melody and modulation was compensated by
accuracy of intonation and perfection of harmony; for as so few
keys were used, but little temperament was required, even in the
organ, which, for all the modulation then practised, could have
every consonance and interval nearly as perfect, as they can be
produced by voices or violins (6).
(2) The Harmonic Formula, so called, was first published, according to Rousseau in 1700,
by M. Delaire. Diet, de Musique.
(«) Tartini, Trattato di Musica* cap. v. p. 147, and Stillingfleet, p. 81.
(6) The reader, who has studied composition, or even accompaniment, will be able, by
comparing the harmony of an ancient and modern scale, to account for the different effects,
arising from the two kinds of music. The old masters seldom used discords, except at a
close; and often accompanied seven of the eight notes, in every key, with common chords. The
moderns, on the contrary, allow them only e to the key note, and its fifth; to all the rest they
give a sixth or a discord. In old compositions, the harmony of each note in the scale seems
detached and unconnected by relative sounds; and in the new two chords seldom succeed each
other, without being combined by some sound, in common with both.
„ -fr.h«3± ~
Old Harmony
fa
-&-**
t O — tf 1
[| '^ g O L3
~rT
£ 6
$
6 %
B &
2.
^
I
New Harmony
It is not common, or necessary, for the sounds of either of these scales, thus accompanied,
to be used in this regular manner; but the following bases, with no other harmony, than
common chords, perpetually occur, in ancient music: DC, CE, EG, AGF. Of this last
[Footnote continued on opposite page.
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
Indeed most of the attempts at Harmony, that we have been
able to discover, previous to the middle of the fifteenth century,
seem only to disgrace and encumber melody. A succession of
fourths or fifths, which was called Diatessaronare, and Quintoier,
with a very sparing use of other Concords, would be very disgust-
ing to modern ears; and the slow manner in which thirds and sixths
were received into favour, seem still to prove the want of a
temperament in the instruments, with which the voice was then
accompanied. These Concords, which, on this account, seem to
have been ranked among Discords, by the ancients, perhaps
acquired, from the same cause, the appellation of imperfect, among
the moderns (c). The Pythagorean division of the scale seems to
have been all, that the Musicians, of those times had retained of
the Ancient Music. Poetry was now sunk into Gothic Barbarism,
and elegant Melody was wholly unknown; for the Chants of the
Church, to which Music seems now to have been wholly confined,
offered little to the ear, but melodies that were either monotonous,
or uncouth.
However, while Harmony was refining, and receiving new
combinations, it was found, Hke other sweet and luscious things, to
want qualification, to keep off langour and satiety; when some bold
Musicians had the courage and address to render it piquant and
FootnoU continued from previous page.}
modulation, I can give no better illustration, than the following chant of Palestrina, from a
MS. chiefly in his own hand writing, which will be described hereafter.
» 0
°
-&-&
# #
o
SL
&
t About the middle of the sixteenth century, the sharp 7th of the key, ascending, began to
be accompanied by the 6th; indeed, before that period, if the 7th of the key was ever used
in the base, it was made flat.
$ The old contrapuntists held the sharp 4th and flat 5th in such abhorrence, that, to avoid
them, they frequently made the ?th of a key flat, even before a close. Mi contra fa est Diabolus
in Musica, has been said by an eminent musical writer, during the present century. FUX,
Grad. ad Parn. Vienna, 1725.
(c) Their mutability into major and minor, which is given by some writers as a reason
for their being called imperfect concords, seems rather to entitle them to a precedency over all
others: for it is on this account, and from their variety of effect on the ear, that they
are so agreeable in succession, and afford us a pleasure peculiar to themselves.
719
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
i..*1. . _^___ _ . _ __^ _ _^. : ; „ . ^
interesting "by" a" mixture of ""DISCORD, in order to * stimulate
attention; and thus by giving the ear a momentary uneasiness, and
keeping it in suspence, its delight became the more exquisite, when
the discordant difficulty was solved. And this contrast of
imperfection seems a necessary zest to all our enjoyments: in
Painting, a tawdry glare of vivid colours without shade would but
dazzle and fatigue the sight; and to delineate figures, without the
intervention of shade, would be writing upon water. Sleep, if
uninvited by fatigue, would unwillingly approach our dwelling;
even sun-shine would lose all its charm, if not interrupted sometimes
by clouds and darkness; and happiness itself, if monotonous, and
incessant, would degenerate into apathy. Contrast is the great
principle of beauty, in all the arts, and indeed throughout the
universe; for amidst the wonderful order and symmetry, with which
it is composed, an endless variety is discoverable in the proportions,
forms, colours, and qualities, of its most minute, as well as most
magnificent parts.
Discords, in musical composition, does not consist in the excess
or defect of intervals, which, when false, produce jargon, not music;
but in the warrantable and artful use of such combinations, as,
though too disagreeable for the ear to dwell upon, or for the purpose
of finishing a musical period, yet so necessary are they to modern
counterpoint, and modern ears, that harmony, without their relief,
would satiate, and lose many of its most beautiful effects.
Discords were very sparingly used by the old masters, who were
cotemporary with Franchinus; their laws were not soon established,
and in scoring the first masses that were printed in Italy, and those
composed before the Reformation, in England, which are preserved
in MS. at Oxford, I find few discords regularly prepared and
resolved, except the 4th into the 3d, or the 7th into the 6th; the
2d, 9th, or 5th, made a discord by the 6th, scarcely ever occur (d).
Franchinus quotes Dunstable, on the subject of discord ; but our
countryman seems only to have used it in passing-notes, to which
no accompaniment is given, or notes which lead from one concord to
another, in order to connect the melody. Franchinus is obscure on
the subject of preparing and resolving discords ; indeed, he only
mentions the 4th made a discord by the 5th, though in the
(d) The first discord that seems to have been regularly used was the 7th; the next, the
fourth, at a close; after this the i ; and then, the ninth. In a fragment of Canto Figurato, by
Bonadies, the master of Franchinus, 1473, there is no other discord to be found than a 7th
prepared by the 8th, and resolved upon the sharp 6th:
o o
:S
. It is probable that the rule for preparing discords, originated from the danger of unskilful
singers not hitting ;them : and we find in the old church-music, composed for voices only, no
discords, but what were prepared, and in ligature; even during the last century, it was
esteemed a great licence to use one that had not been previously a concord.
720
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
recapitulation and illustration of his rules, he uses, not only that,
but the 7th, |, 9th, and 5th made a discord by the 6th ; which are
almost all the discords that were used for near two centuries after
the publication of his book.
But in a tract upon counterpoint, by John Tinctor, cited likewise
by P. Martini (e), the subject is more clearly treated than by
Franchinus, who wrote several years after him: for we are there
told, that every discord must be preceded by a concord, as the second
by the unison or 3d ; the 4th by the 3d or 5th ; the 7th by the 5th
or 8th, &c. (/).
fc) To. I. p. 215.
(/) Whether Tinctor means regular, prepared discords, or discords used as passing-notes,
is perhaps not certain; but in either case, a discord should be rendered supportable by two
concords, one before its percussion, and one after it; that by passing from one agreeable sound
to another, the ear may not have more of this acid and piquant sauce, than it can bear. There
is a very material difference between the use of discords, as passing-notes, and preparing and
resolving them, which I shall endeavour to explain : a bar, in common time, is divided into two
or four equal portions, times, or parts; of these, the first and third are accented, the second
and fourth, unaccented; now the percussion of a prepared discord should always be on^an
accented part of a bar, and the resolution on an unaccented part; on the contrary, a transient
discord, used only as a passing-note, is generally struck on the unaccented part of a bar. A
short example in notes will perhaps make a deeper impression than the precept.
Discords prepared and resolved.
T» J> 79
Bar of two times, the first accented, the second unaccented.
Bar of four times, first and third accented, second and fourth unaccented.
Discords used as passing-notes.
treble „_ ._ ...
the base, are passing-notes.
part, except the first in a group.
VOI,. i. 46
721
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
After the scale, which furnishes Melody, was settled, and
agreeable simultaneous sounds were discovered, which enriched it
with harmony ; after these sounds were classed into perfect, and
imperfect, Concords, and other intervals, called Discords, were
found practicable in composition, and when discreetly managed,
to add to the beauty and effect of Harmonica! Combinations, it was
natural to imagine that Melody and Harmony, like twin-sisters,
would have grown up, and been refined and polished together. But
the elder of the two sisters, Melody, was long neglected, and suffered
to run wild, while every method was used, which Science and
diligence could devise, in order to cultivate and improve the natural
powers and agreeable qualities of Harmony. It was indeed a long
time, before sufficient attention had been given to Melody, to find
that she was capable of the least improvement, or had a genius for
any thing but Psalmody ; however, in riper years, she was
discovered to have many captivating qualities, and to be susceptible
of grace, elegance, and every embellishment which art and invention
could suggest. This discovery, in process of time, brought her into
good company, and made her the delight of the most polished and
fashionable part of the world, after having long associated with the
lowest of the people ; rioting in alehouses with jolly fellows, and
roaring in the streets with ballad singers. At length, however, she
went upon the stage, and there, though indeed she was accused of
giving herself airs, and affecting the company of princes and heroes,
and manners of the ancient Greeks, yet, of whatever absurdities she
was guilty in her theatrical character, she seems from that to have
derived all her favour and importance ; as it was on the Stage that
she studied the public opinion, and acquired the approbation of
persons of sensibility, taste, and discernment: But before we
proceed to give her dramatic adventures, we must relate what
happened to her sister, in the Church.
It has been already shewn (g) that Counterpoint, in the Church,
began by adding parts to plain chant ; and, in secular music, by
harmonizing old tunes, as florid melody did, by variations to these
tunes. It was long before men had the courage, or genius to invent
new melodies (h). •
It is a matter of surprize, that so little plain Counterpoint is to
be found, and, of this little, none correct, previous to attempts at
imitation, fugue, and canon, contrivances to which there was a. very
clear tendency, in all probability, during times of extemporary
Discant, before there was any such thing as written Harmony ; for
we find in the most ancient Music, in parts, which is come down to
(g] Chap. II. of this Boole.
,(A) Harmony in two parts must necessarily have been poor, and insipid, while the
modulation was so confined,, and discord so seldom used. This seems to account for the raVcf
composing and hearing music in many parts, heaped one on the other, without much ddfcacy
or selection, that each chord might have its full complement. Till fancy, taste, and expression
had existence, a solo or even duet, unaccompanied, must indeed have been as dull and
uninteresting as the musical societies for the preservation and performance of ancient music
have ever pronounced them; but either invention, refined S5SHS», Sd exSte
& cho^e?andefSl^&0r * ' * **** S°ng' haVe **** m^ at present' "^31
722. .
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
us, that Fugue and Canon had made a considerable progress, at
the time it was composed (f). The Song, or Round, '^Sumer is i
cumeri in," is a very early proof of the cultivation of this art ; and
the first compositions for the Church, or Masses in Music, that were
printed, and which were composed in the fifteenth century, are full
of Canons and Fugues, of the most artificial and difficult
construction. What could have given birth so early to these
mockeries, is a subject which merits some investigation.
Padre Martini (k) is of opinion that this species of composition
had its beginning in the following manner. The first composers
having begun to add another part to Canto Fermo, which at the
same time that it formed a different melody, was in harmony, or
counterpoint, which is the union of different melodies, contrived that
whatever part they superadded to the chant, should resemble it as
much as possible, if not throughout the movement, at least in the
subject. But as this Canto Fermo is sometimes transposed from one
Hexachord (or Propriety del Canto) to another, in the same manner
the imitations of the several parts in counterpoint are made
sometimes in the unison or octave, and sometimes in the 4th or 5th
above or below; still taking great care that the intervals and syllables,
or Solmisation, are the same ; that is, that the distance between one
sound and another, and the Solmisation, or syllabic names of the
sounds, perfectly correspond with those of the subject, or principal
Chant (2).
And it is easy to discover from the Skeleton of the Ecclesiastical
Modes, authentic and plagal, that this is the true origin of fugue,
and all the laws of reply.
Arithmetical
division
Harmonic
division
(0 The following chant, by Josquin, is the most ancient and accurate counterpoint, won
faftato, that I have hitherto found.
=tet
m
(k) Saggio di Contrafi. parte 2da. Pref. p. xxviii. .
(I) See above, p. 473, the Diagram, representing the Hexachords, or, as they are likewise
called, proprieties of the three original keys of G, C, and F.
(m) The last four modes, which were added by Glareanus, otter no new modulation, or
melody; i dl tti intervals which the eight ancient eccl^iastical modes allow m the key of A
are furnished by the second mode, or plagaj of P; £nd C is supphed with all its sounds by
the plagal of F. * ' "
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Here we have all the keys ; and, if these fixed and fundamental
sounds were filled up with the intermediate notes, we should have all
the scales whence the melody of Fugues and Canons was drawn,
during almost three centuries. The chants of the church furnished
the subjects, and their answers ; the accuracy of which was proved
by the syllables of the Guidonian Hexachords.
The 5th above and 5th below, or 5th and 4th of a key, either
major or minor, are its first relatives ; and as they furnish the most
agreeable modulation, so they are the only intervals, different from
the identity of unison and octave, in which the answer of a regular
Canon or Fugue can be made (n). All other replies are allowed by
Theorists to be nothing but imitations. And the literal names of
notes, their appearance on paper, or even effect on the ear, will not
demonstrate the truth of an answer to a subject given, with such
certainty, as Solmisation; and it seems as if the Guidonian syllables
would be more useful in this species of composition, than in
singing (o).
I have dwelt the longer on these first principles of Canon and
Fugue, as the lives and labours of the primitive Fathers of Harmony
were spent in establishing, and those of their immediate successors,
in producing such illustrations of them, as were not only the delight
of their own age, but are still the admiration of every friend to
the art.
(n) If, for instance, the subject of a fugue was delivered in any series of notes Lwuig*
to the Hexachord of C Major, the answer should be in one of the otfjer two Hexachords of .
or G, its 4th and 5th, in the same intervals, and syllables. In a minor key the same rules
should be observed, remembering that no accident of b, #, or fe, should have admission in
the answer, which does not occur in the subject. The relative minor keys to a major, and
major to a minor, are reciprocally, the 3ds above and 3ds below, which furnish imitations, but
not answers, to subjects of Fugue.
e a b minor
CFG major
a d e minor
ipr ( c f g major,
ijor \ A D E minor,
lor (f b c i
major.
(o) Pietro Aaron, in his Lucidario in Musica, published 1545, gives the following little
movement, as a proof, that a Fugue, in appearance, is not always a Fugue, in reality.
-e
mi,
tfc
Many of the rules of Fugue, it must be owned, were frivolous, and often followed with
such ngour and pedantry, as merited reprobation; for all rules in music, deduced from any
other principle than effect on the ear, are absurd. If that sense, which this art was invented
to delight, be satisfied, what title has the eye to take offence, though a sharp, flat, or other
accident, interrupt the apparent symmetry of intervals? However, it was chiefly in Fugues,
which were wholly . built on fragments of Canto jermo, that such Rules were thought
indispensable; for in secular music, composed upon subjects of invention, where the
ecclesiastical scales have been abandoned, more latitude, both of subject and reply, has been
taken by the greatest masters of the art; as will appear from the specimens of their abilities
in this kind of Composition, which will be inserted in the course of the work.
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
Though it has been frequently asserted, upon the authority of
Lud. Guicciardini, and the Abb<§ du Bos, that Counterpoint was
invented and first cultivated in the Netherlands, yet it should be
remembered that Guido, who furnished the Musical Scale and system
still in use ; Marchetto da Padua, who first attempted Modern
Chromatic, or Secular Modulation ; and Franchino Gafiorio, who
produced the first practical treatise upon Composition, were Italians.
It is well known, and generally allowed, that it was the custom
in the middle ages, during times of the greatest mental darkness,
when reason and reflection were the least cultivated, for the priests,
of almost every part of Europe, to visit Rome, in order to learn
Canto Fermo, and the manner of performing those rights of the
church, in which music had any concern (p). Even those historians
who are the least friends to bigotry, and the most ready to combat
superstition and papal usurpations (q), allow that it was only at the
court of Rome that the arts of elegance and refinement were at all
cherished, during these times.
And in the fifteenth century, when we first hear of harmony in
four parts, and masses set to figurative music, it was for the use of
the Pope's Chapel that the greatest efforts of genius in composition
were excited among the candidates for favour in that art, by the
double certainty of having their labours liberally rewarded, and
their productions well performed. And if we find that many of the
composers of the Pontifical Chapel were Netherlander, and the
singers Spaniards, it does not necessarily follow that the Italians
had either counterpoint, or the art of singing, from the Low
Countries, or from Spain. The Roman College of singers had been
established and celebrated during so many ages, that we may as well
imagine these foreigners went to Rome to learn music, as to teach it.*
We know, in later times, that many of the greatest musicians of
Europe have either had their education in Italy, or thought it as
necessary to visit that country as the ancient Roman philosophers to
travel into Greece, or the Grecians into Egypt. Orlando di Lasso,
Handel, Hasse, Gluck, and J. C. Bach, went thither very early, and
(£) King Pepin, Charlemagne, and Alfred, had applied to the Roman Pontiffs for singing
masters to instruct their subjects.
(q) See Hume's History, at the dose of the reigns of Richard III. and Henry VIII.
chap 3.
* It would be foolish to deny the importance of Italian influence upon the history of
music, but it would be equally foolish to deny the fact that in the early isth century the
most important centres of composition were England and the Netherlands.
It may be that away from Rome, composers could come more under the influence oi
secular music than was possible in that city.
That secular music must have influenced the Church composers is certain, but that it
was quite so important as Hullah tries to demonstrate in The History of Modern Music (London
1862) p. 51 et seq., is open to question.
The older historians, probably from the imperfection of the record, trace all musical
progress as the work of Church composers, but with increased knowledge of early secular
music it is clear that the obligation was not one sided.
7«5
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
may be said to have formed their styles on the best models of that
country (r).
The learned Josquin went thither as a singer (s), during the
pontificate of Sixtus the Fourth. And before the year 1600, the
names of near twenty Spanish singers and composers are recorded,
who were employed in the pontifical chapel. Yet all this proves
nothing more than that musicians of great abilities, from whatever
part of the world they came, were certain of encouragement there.
It is, however, very true, that in the beginning of the sixteenth
century, many excellent Flemish composers were dispersed all over
Europe; but the Netherlanders had long been in possession of its
chief manufacturers and commerce; and, as the polite arts are
children of affluence, and dependent on superfluity for support,
it is natural to suppose that they would thrive well at this period,
particularly during the reigns of the Emperors Charles the Fifth,
and Francis the First of France, who were not only both lovers
and encouragers of music, but such knights-errant, that they lived
less in their own capitals than elsewhere, and we find that the arts
followed them wherever they went.
This reflection will, perhaps, a little abate our wonder, at the
great number of musicians which French Flanders, and the Spanish
Netherlands, produced, if it be recollected that Brussels, Antwerp,
Mons, Cambray, &c. were frequently the residence of these
munificent princes (t).
With respect to the particular region, or city in Europe, where
Harmony was first cultivated, till other countries can produce an
earlier specimen of Music in parts than the Song, or Round,
" Sumer is i cumen in," or refute the assertion of Tinctor, himself
a Netherlander, in favour of the countryman, Dunstable, who is
likewise frequently cited by Franchinus, we seem to have the fairest
claim to the honour. If the Italians were the first, as they were
afterwards the best musicians, of modern times, they have been
negligent, in not giving incontestible proofs of it. Bonadies, the
master of Franchinus, lived certainly as early as any other good
composer in parts, of whom any thing is preserved; but it must be
(r) The first motets of Orlando that were published at Antwerp, by Tylman Susato,
J555. were said to be made a la nouvelle composition d'aucuns d'ltalis; as the first productions
of Handel that were published in. England, were said to be composed by an eminent Italian
master; Hasse went very young into Italy, and was a scholar of Alessandro Scarlatti; however,
his clear and graceful style more resembled that of Vinci and Pergolesi, his competitors in the
natural, simple, and elegant manner of writing for the voice, than that of either Scarlatti, his
master, or Kaiser, his countryman, and first model. The late excellent composer, Mr. J. C.
Bach, son and brother of two of the greatest musicians that ever existed, is allowed to have
been a fine player on keyed instruments, before he went to Italy; but his vocal music is
certainly more in the style of Italy than of his native country.
(s) Adami, Osserv. far ben reg. il Corodella Cap. Pontif. p. 159.
(*) Rabelais, in the prologue to the third book of his Pantagruel, written in 1552 (voyex
To. 5. p. 52, partie zde du Rabelais Moderns, Amst. 1752) names sixty et aullres joyeulx
Mustctens, whom he had heard perform, the chief of whom were Netherlanders; and Lod.
Guicoardini (Descrit. di tutti i Paesi Bassi) enumerates fourteen great musicians of that
country, who were dead at the time he wrote, 1566; and gives a more considerable list of
such as were then living. But as compositions of many of these still subsist, and as I shall
hereafter have occasion to exhibit some of them, I shall not trouble my readers here with a
dry catalogue of the names of persons, -who, though they may have been interesting to a
great part of Europe, during the sixteenth century, have been too long out of the world, to
have many friends in it, at present.
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
allowed, that we are still in possession of works by Okenheim,
Josquin, Isaac, and Brumel, who were neither Englishmen nor
Italians, that surpass in excellence all that can be produced, of
equal antiquity, by the inhabitants of England, Italy, or any other
parts of the world. We shall therefore, in justice to these great
Harmonists, and the countries which gave them birth, proceed to
speak of them in chronological order, and give specimens of their
works.
And among these, JOHN OKENHEIM [d. c. 1495] deserves
the first notice, as he is the oldest composer in parts,* on the
continent, of whose works I have been able to find any remains.
M. le Duchat, in his notes upon Rabelais, says he was a native
of Hainault, and treasurer of St. Martin de Tours; but I believe
this assertion was hazarded more with the patriotic view of making
Okenheim as much a Frenchman as possible, than from proof or
conviction; for he was always spoken of as a Netherlander by his
cotemporaries, Tinctor, Franchinus, and even in the Deploration,
or Dirge, written upon his death, which his scholar, Jusquin, set
to music in five parts, as well as the following, which was set by
Guillaume Crespel:
Agricola, Verbonnet, Prioris,
Josquin des Pres, Gaspard, Brunei, Compere,
Ne parlez pluz de joyeulx chants, ne ris,
Mais composez un ne recorderis,
Pour lamenter nostre Maistre et ban Pere.
There is still another Dirge, in Latin («), on the death of
Okenheim, set to music by Lupi, a Netherlander, and composer of
eminence in the time of the Emperor Charles the Fifth. Many
of whose Latin motets, and French songs, in parts, are preserved
in the Museum Collections, as are those of Crespel, the composer
of the French Deploration, just cited.
Little more is recorded concerning the life of Okenheim, than
that he was a Netherlander, who flourished in the 15th century,
produced many learned and elaborate compositions for the church,
and had many scholars, by whom he seems to have been much
beloved and respected. It is, indeed, often mentioned to his
honour, that he was the master of Jusquin (v); but he seems to
have been as fortunate in a disciple, as Jusquin in a master: as
no great professor is sure of making great scholars in any art, unless
he have genius and diligence to direct; and it is only from such
fortunate and rare concurrences that the narrow limits of mediocrity
are surpassed, or the wild effusions of youthful ardour restrained.
(«*) Nania in Joannem OKegi, Mttsicorum $rinci$em.
(v) Padre Martini calls him, II Famoso Maestro del famosissime Giosquino del jrato.
Stor. To. I. 333.
* Okenheim must be regarded as the leader of the second group of Flemish composers.
The first and earlier school consisted of Dufay, Binchois (who is supposed to have taught
Okenheim) and Brassart, etc., who were writing polyphonic music many years before Okenheim.
MSS. of his work are now at Dresden, Vienna, Brussels, Rome, and at other places.
Reprints of two Masses were made by the JP.T.O.,
7«7
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
None of the musical writers of the sixteenth century forgets to
tell us, that Okenheim composed a motet in thirty-six parts: of
what these parts consisted, or how they were disposed, is not
related by Ornithoparcus, Glareanus, Zarlino, or any one who
mentions the circumstance, which all seem to have received from
tradition. But of our countryman, Tallis, a Song is still preserved
in forty parts (x); yet, though I have seen this effort of science
and labour, its effects must still be left to imagination; for where
shall we find forty voices, assembled together, that are able to
perform it? (y).
We may, however, deduct from the reputation of Okenheim,
all the increase it received from the story of his Polyphonic
composition, and there will still remain sufficient cause for the
respect and wonder of Contrapuntists, in the fragments only of his
works, which have been preserved in the Dodecachordon of
Glareanus. This writer tells us, that he was fond of the Ka&ofaxa
in the cantus; that is, of composing a melody which may be
sung in various modes, or keys, at the pleasure of the performer,
observing only the ratio, or relation of consonant notes in the
harmony (#). From the following single part, which may be led
off in any key, with either a flat, or a sharp third, two other parts
may be extracted, a fifth lower, beginning at the distance of a
perfect breve, or whole measure, after each other (a).*
Canon §
p o S* p»po»op — p
<^ Pp Q Pp
>## W
In
— ss- — F
Epdiapente
1 i ^ V i ^igO p£? p P
t r-o-v-f1-
— P d o o — d
(x) It is in the possession of Mr. Bremner in the Strand, and will be further described
hereafter.
(y) If there had been more frequent rehearsals of the Miserere of Leo, in 8 real Darts,
which Ansani had nerformed last year, 1781, at the Pantheon, by more than 40 voices. I can
conceive, from such movements as were correctly executed, that the effects of the whole
would have been wonderful, and greatly have surpassed all the expectation which the high
reputation of the composer, and the uncommon magnitude of the enterprise, had excited. I
am at present in possession of the mass by Benevoli, in twenty-four parts, for six choirs,
mentioned p. 416, and a movement for twelve sopranos, or treble voices, of equal extent. There
can be little melody in any of these multiplied parts; but to make them move at all, without
violation of rule, reouires great meditation and experience.
(z) This seems to imply no more than that the singer, as was usual in old music, should
himself discover and express the accidental flats and sharps, without which, however
ecclesiastical the melody might look, the harmony would be intolerable; and, indeed, this
kind of music seems more calculated to please the eye than the ear.
(a) By this injunction of resting a perfect time, with the circular modal sign at the
beginning, all doubt is removed concerning the time of this movement, which is certainly triple,
though some have erroneously imagined it to be in common time.
*The instructions given by Glareanus for the solution of this canon are as follows:
"Fuga trium yocum in epidiatessaron (nam sic nunc loquuntur) Post perfectum tempus."
Burney's solution therefore is incorrect. The lowest voice should commence; the second voice
should enter at the second bar at the interval of a 4th above, and the 3rd voice should enter
at the 3rd bar, a 4th above the second voice.
. J?8;^118 -df0 Deludes tluY canon in his History, with an incorrect reading of the
ptructions, and with the added mistake of thinking the canon to be in imperfect time, i.e.,
four beats to the bar.
7*8
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
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A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
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Okenheim likewise composed a mass for three and four voices,
ad omnem lowum, which, as the words imply, might be sung in
any of the three species of diatessaron, each part beginning at
ui, re, mi, or in c, f, g, major, and d, e, at minor, on which account
no indicial clef is marked; as the performer, at setting off, has his
choice of any of the modes, or ecclesiastical keys. Indeed, all the
fragments from Okenheim are inserted in Glareanus, without bars,
clefs, or accidental flats and sharps.
In whatever tone the following Kyrie is begun by the Cantus,
if the Altus takes the same note, and the Tenor and Base the
octave below, the harmony will be found correct, provided the
necessary flats and sharps are remembered. The circle, with a
note of interrogation, placed at the beginning of each line, where
the clef should be, seems to ask the singer, in what key or clef he
means to begin?
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These compositions are given rather as specimens of a determined
spirit of patient perseverance, than as models of imitation. In
music, different from all other arts, learning and labour seem to
have preceded taste and invention, from both which the times
under consideration are still very remote. But as the chants of
the church were the ground-work of all composition at this period,
the ears of the congregation seem to have been less consulted
than the eye of the performer, who was to solve canonical mysteries,
and discover latent beauties of ingenuity and contrivance, about
which the hearers were indifferent, provided the general harmony
was pleasing. However, the performer's attention was kept on the
stretch, and perhaps he gained, in mental amusement, what was
wanting in sensual.
It is not certain when Okenheim died; but he is generally
mentioned as a composer of the 15th century, and I have met
with no proof of his existing in the next. In a set of old French
songs, in five and six parts, printed at Antwerp, 1544, there is
the following dirge on his death;* the language seems to be that
of the 15th century. The music is printed entirely in black breves,
semibreves, and minims, which I have never seen in secular music
elsewhere, after the invention of types. It is printed in separate
parts, without bars, clefs, or character for time. The difficulties
I encountered in scoring this composition are not to be described,
and I am ashamed to confess how much time and meditation I
b,estowed upon it; for, after I had discovered the clefs of the other
parts, and the measure, I was thrown into despair by the tenor,
which is said to be a CANON, ung demiton plus bas, and I was
equally unable to find a clef which would harmonize with the other
parts, or make it a Canon to itself. At length, in scoring a five-
part French song, by Josquin, I discovered, by chance, what I
should never have found by study, that, by the word Canon, he
does not always mean a perpetual Fugue, but some mystery which
the performer is to unravel; according to the definition of John
Tinctor, his cotemporary, who says: "CANON est regula voluntatem
compositoris sub OBSCURITATE quadam osiendens." And the
obscurity in the present Canon seems only that of transposition.
The flat, which is printed on the second space, implied the
contralto clef; and, by beginning the first note, which is likewise
on the second space, half a tone lower upon A, the whole will
agree very well with the other parts. Another reason for supposing
that nothing more was meant; is, that the dirge is said to be <£ cinq
parties] now, if another part were extracted in Canon with the
t * It was printed by Tylman Susato in the 7th book of Chansons (1545). The contents of
this volume are nearly all by Josquin. There is a copy in the B.M. (K. 3, a. 7).
731
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Tenor, which I cannot see possible, there would be a sixth part;
and the hannony seems complete without it. Before I exhibit a
score of this dirge, I shall insert a fac-simile of the tenor-part,
which is said to be in Canon, in order to afford the learned musical
reader an opportunity of exercising his sagacity in its resolution,
if it should be different from that which I have given.
La Deploration de Johan Okenheim, a 5 Parties.
Tenor Can- ,— ^-
on ung de- L • B Ji • - ji 1+ • B Bu=
mitow plus I m '
6as- Requiem eternam
dona
feis
Domj.
lux
per-
^te=P
•petua
luceat
ill'!*
La Deploration de Jehan Okenheim.
Compos£e par Josquin des Prez. a 5 Parties.
Superius.
Contra Tenor.
Quintus
Tenor. Canon
ung demiton
plus has.
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OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
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A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
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734
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
The next great Contrapuntist, >of the Flemish School, to
Okenheim, was his Scholar, Josquin Des Prez [c. 1445-1521], Del
Prato, or, as he was styled in Latin, lodocus Pratensis, the author
of the preceding Dirge, whose compositions for the church, though
long laid aside, and become obsolete by the gradual changes in
Notation, continue still to merit the attention of the curious.
Indeed the laws and difficulties of Canon, Fugue, ^Augmentation,
Diminution, Reversion, and almost every^5"th"er species^ of ~Ieaffied
contrivance allowable in ecclesiastical compositions for voices, were
never so well observed, or happily vanquished, as by Josquin;
who may justly be called the father of moden^ harmony, and the
inventor of almost every ingenuous' roiff^^ constituent
parts, near a hundred years before the time of Palestrino, Orlando
di Lasso, Tallis, or Bird, the great musical luminaries of the 16th
century, whose names and works are still held in the highest
reverence, by all true judges and lovers of what appears to me the
true and genuine style of choral compositions.
This ingenious, learned, and voluminous composer> is
enumerated by Lewis Guicciardim (6), among Flemish musicians.
However, the constant addition of Pratensis, or Del Prato, to his
name, seems rather to make him a native of Prato in Tuscany;
and the frequent mention that is made of him by Italian writers,
implies at least, if he was not a native of Italy, that he had lived
there, and that his works were very familiar to them; for not only
by the name of Josquino, Jodoco del Prato, is he often mentioned
by Franchinus, and all the musical writers of Italy in the next
age, as a most excellent composer, but by miscellaneous writers,
who only speak of music incidentally.* As a proof of this, I need
give no better authority than the following passage in Castiglione's
admirable Cortegiano.
This author, speaking of the operations of prejudice in favour of
great names, tells us of the eagerness and delight with which a
polite company of his acquaintance had read a copy of verses,
supposing them to have been written by Sannazaro, who afterwards,
when it was certain that they were not of his composition, thought
them execrable. " So likewise/1 says one of the interlocutors, "a
Motet sung before the Duchess of Urbino, was unnoticed, till it
y#s known to be the production of Josquin/'
I Franchinus (c), enumerating the great musicians of his time,
specifies Tinctor, Gulielmus, Guarnerius, fusquin de fret, Gaspar,
Agricola, Loyset, Obrecht, Brumel, Isaac, and calls them most
delightful composers (d). <
(b) Descriti. di tutti i Past bassi, p. 42.
(c) Pratt. Mus. lib. iii. cap. 12.
(d) Jocundissimi Cotnpo sit ores.
* Josquin was a native of Hainault and his entry into tne i'apal Uhoir was in 1486. He
seems to have remained at Rome until 1494 with brief periods of absence.
TThe collected works of Josquin, edited by A. Smijers, are in course of publication by the
735
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The same author, in another work (e), lets us know that he
had been personally acquainted with Josquin: for, speaking of
some inaccuracies in the Sesquialterate proportion, he says: Di
questi inconvenienti ne advertite gia molti anni passati Jusquin
Despriet et Gaspar dignissimi compositori. This was printed in
1508, so that " many years ago," must throw these composers
far back into the 15th century; and, he adds, " though they
acquiesced in my opinions, yet, having been corrupted by long
habit, they were unable to adopt them."
Zarlino (/), who likewise speaks of him among the practici
periti, gives another instance of predilection in favour of Jusquin
at Rome (g), " which," says he, " was at the expence of my
friend, the admirable Adrian Willaert, who has often himself
confirmed the fact." The Motet verbum bonum et Suave, for six
voices (k), having been long performed in the Pontifical Chapel
at Rome, on the festival of our Lady, as the production of Josquin,
was thought to be one. of the finest compositions of the time; but
Willaert, having quitted Flanders, in order to visit Rome, in the
time of Leo X. and finding that this Motet was sung as the
composition of Josquin, whose name was affixed to it in the chapel
books, ventured to declare it to be his own work, and not that
of the famous Josquin: but so great was the ignorance, envy,
and prejudice of the singers, that, after this declaration, the Motet
was never again performed in the Pontifical Chapel.
Adami (*), in his historical list of the singers in the Pope's
Chapel, mentions Josquin next to Guido, as one of the great
cultivators and supporters of Church Music; he calls him " Uomo
insigne per I'inventione," and says that he was a singer in the
Pontifical Chapel during the time of Sixtus the Fourth (K).
After quitting Italy he was appointed Maestro di Capella to
Lewis the Twelfth of France, who reigned from 1498 to 1515, and
it is hardly probable that such an honour should have been
conferred upon him till he had arrived at great eminence in his
profession; he must either have acquired the public favour by his
works or performance, before he could be noticed by a sovereign;
indeed the impediments to their approximation must have been
reciprocal, and it has been well observed, that it is as difficult for
a prince to get at a man of merit, as it is for a man of merit to
approach a prince.
It is related (Q, that when Josquin was first admitted into the
(e) Angel, ac. Div. opus Musica Tract. 5 Cap. 6.
(/) Parte 4ta. p. 346.
(g) Ib. p. 175.
(k) We shall have further occasion to speak of this composition hereafter.
(0 Osserv. per ben regolare il Coro detta Cap. Pontif.
(k) This Pontiff reigned from 1471 to 1484.
(2) Glareano, Dodecachordon, p. 441.
736
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PR
service of Lewis, he had been promised a benefice by his j
(m); but this prince, contrary to his usual custom, for
in general both just and liberal, forgot the promise he ha<
to his Maestro di Capella; when Josquin, after suffering
inconvenience from the shortness of his Majesty's rr
ventured by a single expedient to remind him publicly
promise, without giving offence; for being commanded to c
a Motet for the Chapel Royal, he chose part of the 119th '.
Mentor esto verbi tui servo tuo; " Oh think of thy sery
concerning thy word "; which he set in so supplicatii
exquisite a manner, that it was universally admired, part
by the king, who was not only charmed with the music, 1
the force of the words so effectually, that he soon after ,
his petition, by conferring on him the promised prefermen
which act of justice and munificence, Josquin, with equal
composed, as a hymn of gratitude, another part of the same
Bonitatem fecisti cum servo tuo Domine, " Oh Lord, th<
dealt graciously with thy servant."
Josquin seems to have been possessed of a certain veiE
and humour, as well as musical genius; of which Glareai
given his readers several instances, besides those just relat
consequence of the. long procrastination of the performs
Lewis XII' s promise relative to the benefice, Josquin apj
a nobleman, in high favour at court, to use his interest w
prince in his behalf, who, encouraging his hopes with prote
of zeal for his service, constantly ended with saying, "
take care of this business, let me alone — Laisse faire moi,
moi faire) when, at length, Josquin tired of this vain and J
assurance, turned it into Solmisation, and composed an enti:
on these syllables of the Hexachords : La sol fa re mi; whic
is among the productions of our author in the Brit
[K. 1, d. 13] and is an admirable composition.
The following circumstance, which likewise happened
Josquin' s residence at the court of France, has been record
by Glareanus (n) and Mersennus (o). These writers infc
that Lewis, though Music afforded him great pleasure, had s
and inflexible a voice, that he never was able to sing a ta
that he defied his Maestro di Capella to compose a piece o
in which it was possible for him to bear a part. Howe
musician accepted the challenge, and composed a canon
voices, to which he added two other parts, one of whi
nothing more to do than to sustain a single sound, and th
only the key note, and its fifth, to be sung alternately,
gave his Majesty the choice of these two parts, and beginni:
the long note, after some time, his royal scholar was ena
(m) This seems to imply that Josquin was an Ecclesiastic.
(n) Ubi supra.
(o) Harm. Univ. Liv. de la Vote. p. 44-
Vol.. i. 47
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
continue it, as a drone to the canon, in despite of nature, which
had never intended him for a singer (p).
Rabelais, in his prologue to the third book of Pantagruel, places
Josquin des Prez at the head of all the fifty-nine Joyeulx Musiciens
whom he had formerly hear.d (q). Josquin, among Musicians, was
the Giant of his time, and seems to have arrived at that universal
monarchy and dominion over the affections and passions of the
musical part of mankind, that has been mentioned above (r).
Indeed his compositions seem to have been as well known, and as
much practised throughout Europe, at the beginning of the 16th
century, as Handel's were in England, about forty years ago.
In the music book of Prince Henry afterwards Henry VIII. ,
which is preserved in the Pepys collection at Cambridge, there are
several of his compositions; and we are told that Anne of Boleyn,
during her residence in France, collected and learned a great number
of them. In a very beautiful MS. at the British Museum (s),
consisting of French Songs of the 15th century, in three and four
parts, there are likewise many of Josquin' s compositions (t). .But
the most capital collection of ..his works, and of cotemporary
^Contrapuntists, 'which, I believe, is how subsisting, ..... is~ffiat of the
British Museum, already described («) ; and r as these productions
are not only precious, from their age and scarcity, but intrinsic
worth, I shall here be more ample and diffuse in my extracts and
accounts of them.
My first intention was only to transcribe from this collection
two or three movements of Josquin's celebrated Mass upon the
old tune, called I'Homme Arme, as specimens of his style; but I
was so drawn on and amused by the author's ingenious and curious
contrivances, that I scored the whole mass and several others, and
regard them as the most subtle and elaborate productions that I
have ever seen in this kind of writing.
Josquin's Mass, Sine Nomine (#), consisting of upwards of
twenty movements, is wholly made up of Canons in the different
intervals of Diatessaron, Diapente, Diapason; and one, very
curious, in the second above, and another in the second below
the subject.
(J>) This Canon is printed in Glareanus, and Mersennus, ubi sitfira.
ve heard
(r) P. 706.
(s) Bib. Reg. 20 A. 16.
(t) The names of the other composers in this MS. are Heyne, Brumel, and Cresmeres
The parts are generally Soprano, Tenor on the third line, and Contra Tenor in the clef of !?'
fi Sfi ft* iTcalS fi£ ^^V^ffgS^^
.=Si «^^
the third fe the Alto tenore, and the fourth in the common bLI
P. 709.
on
See
738
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
Canon, un ton plus haut.
Canon, un Ton plus bas.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Sometimes the superius, or upper part, is to be drawn out of
the altus, and sometimes out of the tenor, or base, without being
written; a task the more difficult, as the sign where they are to
begin is frequently omitted.
These compositions must have been studied, and frequently
rehearsed, before their performance; for though no rapidity of
execution is required, yet, as there are no bars, and the value of
the notes is frequently changed by position, as well as by the
modal signs, upon very short notice, this, joined to the difficult
solution of the canons, must have made it impossible for them to
have been sung at sight, even by those who were accustomed to the
notation.
There are more than twenty compositions, by Josquin, inserted
in Glareanus, among which are several from his celebrated Mass,
I'Homme Arme. P. Martini (y) supposes the subject of it to have
been the tune of a Provencal song: il canto d'una certa canzone
Provenzale : but though I have taken great pains, both by enquiry
and reading, to find the words to which this old melody used to
be sung, yet I have never been successful. Nothing, however,
has appeared to me more probable, than that this is the famous
Cantilena Rolandi, or air to the song which the French armed
champion used to sing at the head of the army, in honour of their
hero Roland, in advancing to attack an enemy (2).*
But, whatever may have been the import, or merit of the poem,
the tune was in such favour among composers, at the end of the
15th and beginning of the 16th century, that not only Josquin
composed two different masses upon it, but De Orto, Pipilare,
Brumel, Pierre de la Rue, and, afterwards, Morales, and
Palestrina, in friendly contention, and trials of skill, made it the
theme of very elaborate compositions for the church (a).
In every movement of Josquin's Mass, some part or other, but
generally the tenor, is singing the tune in different notes and
measures: sometimes in augmentation, and sometimes in
diminution. In the Kyrie, or first movement, the tenor has the first
part of the tune, which the superius, or upper part, had led off;
in the next movement, or Christe, it has the second part. In the
third, fourth, and sixth movements, the tenor has the subject-tune
in different and difficult notations, and in the fifth and seventh, the
same part sings it in retro, or, as it is called in the musical technica
of the times, cancrizans.
In the Sanctus, the soprano leads off the subject, in D minor,
moving in breves and semibreves, accompanied by the tenor, in
a free and airy melody; and, after six bars, the countertenor
(y) Saggio di Contra}. Parte xma, p. 129. (*) See above, p. 597.
r^iwiJ?10^ rf Jos<luin,are both Preserved,, as is that of De la Rue, in the Museum
£dp^U|«
combinations and contrivances, is in nothing superior to that of Josquin, exceot in clearness
%*££&' advantages' *•* a *** *f near « *»** years fi^hlps^eS fa musk
* This assumption is incorrect. The melody L'Homm* Armt is riven in ' Grove's (Vol ' i«
|>vi5i), A copy of Josqoiin's Mass on this melody is in the B.M. (K. i..d. 13).
74»-
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
sings the theme, in F major, and in augmentation; when the first
part is finished, the base leads off a new subject of close imitation
between that, the tenor, and the soprano; and while the counter-
tenor is singing the second part of the tune, the intelligent musician
will see several ingenious contrivances in the other three parts.
The next movement, Pleni sunt, is only in trio; but the subjects
of fugue are so well treated, and the texture of the parts is so
masterly, that I shall present it to my readers.
Plen(
ai
m
Pleni
coeli
i &
P Ir r i"i
33^5
74^
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Whoever examines these compositions of Josquin in score, will
find that no notes have had admission by chance, or for the sake
of remplissage, but that, like the prints of Hogarth, every thing
not only contributes to the principal design and harmony of the
whole, but has a specific character, and meaning in itself.
The Osanna has many curious contrivances in moto contrario,
double counterpoint, &c, in three parts; while a fourth is still singing
I'Homme Arme. In the two next movements, " Benedictus qui
venit/' and " In Nomine/' by a curious species of contrivance,
Duos, are formed by two parts singing the same intervals in different
measures: that is, while one performs the melody in semibreves,
the other sings in minims, and 6 contra. After furnishing the
musical student with this hint at a solution, I shall present him
with these short movements in the same manner as they appear in
the printed copy, and leave the rest to his sagacity.
Duo in unum.
y ° '
Benedictus
Duo.
PC). Jpr Jf'rr^0/": £
In nomine Domi ni Domi . - .
-r^-UjJddj.ldndn I
qui vemt.
The next movement, " Agnus Dei/' in four parts, is an
exercise for time, as the proportions in all of them are different.
After this, there is a second movement, to the same words,
where three parts, in different measures, are drawn out of one:
tria in unum. At the beginning of this canon, three characters
for time are placed over each other, thus C . but as it is inserted
/fa
v^/
by Glareanus with its solution, I shall only refer the curious reader
to p. 442 of the Dodecachordon.
The next and last movement, is a third Agnus Dei, i. 4, in
which the superius, or upper part, performs the tune in Longs
and Breves, with this direction, clama ne cesses; which implies
perpetual singing, without keeping any of the rests that may
occur, allowing only for the time of the notes. The other three
742
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
parts are in close fugue, during the whole movement, and often
in canon, the tissue of which is carried on with wonderful art and
ingenuity.
But though this mass has not only been more celebrated than
any of Josquin's other masses, but than any of his motets, or songs,
I think there are many of his compositions which manifest equal
abilities, and yet are more clear, natural, and pleasing.
The Osanna, in his mass upon the melody of an old song
beginning " Fay sans regres " is truly curious: the tenor and base
are in constant canon, and the other two parts in free fugue,
consisting of little traits of natural and pleasing melody.
Osanna.
JODOCI PRATENSXS.
gjffj
9=
Osanna
Osan
ex • eel •
In ex - eel . sis
^^
~=&
5
SE
^S
"
(a) No accidental Hats or Sharps occur in the ancient Copy; and perhapt those which
an inserted in this, will not satisfy every Musical Reader.
743
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
•ll.fi.ll
J2. .*
HOil
The Benedictus of the same Mass is almost a double Canon in
four parts, upon two very different subjects; that of the Tenor and
Base being a fragment of the old tune Fay sans Regrets.
Benedictus.
EjUSDEM.
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744
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
His mass, called Didadi, is likewise a very curious and elaborate
composition, on a tune that was probably well known in the time
of Josquin, and which the tenor part is continually singing in
different measures, of so uncommon a kind, that the author has
thought it necessaiy not only to give their resolution in notes, but
to place at the beginning of each, one of the following signs of
prolation.
To the Kyrics, or
two xst movements.
Patrem omnifiotcn- an * > A. <- ^ *
*""' and
His mass, " De beata Virgine/' abounds with canons, fugues,
and imitations, of admirable contrivance. Almost every move-
ment is in five parts, yet only four are printed, as some two of
them are constantly in canon, for which, though frequently of
difficult solution, only one part is followed.
(&) The author doubtless gives these types of his Rhythmical proportions in allusion to
the Song which he had taken as the theme of his Mass; Dadi, from Dado, being the Italian
word for Dice, and Di dadi, as it should have been printed, were either the initial
words, or title, of a popular Song upon Hazard or Gaming in general, during the
fifteenth century. Our fanciful author might faintly have completed the six faces
of the Dado, or Dice, by the proportions in the perfect Mood, or Ternary Measure,
0, where one long is equal to 3 Breves, or a Breve to 3 Semibreves:
745
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Josquin's " Missa, Sine Nomine/' is almost the only one which
he composed without taking a Chant or old tune for his theme;
but the writing upon vulgar melodies was not a practice peculiar
to him, for Pierre de la Rue, Brumel, Mouton, Caspar, Fevin, or
Feum, and all his cotemporaries, did the same, as appears by
the titles of their Masses in the same collection; and Zarlino (c)f
long after, tells us, that it was an ancient custom, which still
prevailed in his time, not to compose a Mass, unless upon a certain
theme or subject, taken from a well known Chant, Motet, or Song.
Glareanus (d) informs us, likewise, that hardly any Mass was
composed in his time, except an old subject.
That Chants, and the Canto Fermo, to which the Hymns of
the Church had been sung for many ages, should be made the
subject, or basis of Counterpoint, in the Church, had something
of piety and propriety in it, which would naturally silence censure,
and incline the heads and rulers of ecclesiastical rites to excuse, if
not encourage the attempt; but when Composers polluted pious
ears with the light and contaminated strains of the vulgar and
licentious, most profanely adapted to humble supplications,
Hymns of praise, or sacred injunctions, the sentiments of which
must be perpetually driven from the minds of the congregation,
by the frequent repetition of these profane fragments, in all the
several parts of a Chorus, they abused the privilege they had
obtained of harmonizing the Chants, and discovered an egregious
want of understanding, decorum, and reverence, for the religious
rite which they were appointed to direct (e).
But Josquin's Masses, though more frequently cited and
celebrated by musical writers, than those of any other author, and,
indeed, than any of his other works, seem to me inferior to his
Motets in every respect; for these are not only all composed upon
subjects of his own invention, or upon fragments of the most
beautiful and solemn Chants of the Church, but in a style more
clear and pleasing. The following Motet, which is the? eighth of
the fourth Book della Corona, will afford the musical reader an
opportunity of forming a judgment of the solemnity and science
with which he treated sacred subjects.
(c) P. 172 and 267.
(d} P. 275.~JV«tfa est jere hodie Missa, qua non ex antiquo Themate quopiam deprotnpta.
(«) This censure must not. however, be confined to Josquin and his cotemporaries; for
we find that Francis the First and all his court, sung Clement Marot's translation of the
Psalms, when they first appeared, to the tunes of favourite songs; indeed, at this time, all
melody was psalmody. See Bayle, Art. Marot.
746
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
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In the third and fourth collection of Motets, published at the
beginning of the sixteenth century, under the title of Motetti della
Corona, there are many by Josquin, which are truly admirable,
particularly a Miserere for five voices, which, as it consists of three
movements, is too long to be inserted in a work of this kind, but
(&) The Imitation here, a Contrc-Tems, is admirable, and has served as a Model to
Corelli, in the Alia Breve Fugue of his ist Concerto, and to many others.
' 749
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
appears to me a model of choral composition, without instruments;
as the subjects of fugue and imitation are simple, and free from
secular levity; the style is grave and reverential; the harmony,
pure; the imitations are ingenious; and all constructed upon a
fragment of Canto Fermo, to which the second tenor is wholly
confined : repeating it, in the first part, a note lower every time,
beginning at the fifth of the key, and descending to its octave;
in the second part, ascending in the same manner; in the third
part, beginning at the fifth, and descending to the key note.
This species of laboured composition has been frequently
censured, and stigmatized by the name of pedantry, and Gothic
barbarism, which, perhaps, it would now deserve, out of the
Church; but in the time of Josquin, when there was little melody,
and no grace in the arrangement, or measure of single notes; the
science of harmony, or ingenuity of contrivance in the combination
of simultaneous Sounds, or music in parts, as it was the chief
employment of the Student, and ambition of the Composer, so the
merit of both, and the degree of regard bestowed upon them by
posterity, should be proportioned to their success, in what was their
chief object, and not in what had no existence at the time in which
these musicians lived. Another apology offers itself for Josquin,
as well as for his scholars and followers, who composed for the
Church : which is, that pure harmony, and contrivance, are less
favourable to that kind of levity which is inseparable from Airs
clothed with little harmony, which seem unfit for the gravity of
Ecclesiastical purposes.
With respect to some of Josquin' s contrivances, such as
Augmentations, Diminutions, and Inversions of the Melody,
expressed by the barbarous Latin verb Cancrizare, from the
retrograde motion of the crab, they were certainly pursued to an
excess; but to subdue difficulties, has ever been esteemed a merit
of a certain kind, in all the arts, and treated with respect by artists.
Michael Angelo, in delineating the difficult attitudes into which he
chose to throw many figures in his works, and which other artists
had not courage, or, perhaps, abilities to attempt, procured himself
a great name among the judges of correct drawing, and bold design;
though a great part of the spectator's pleasure in viewing them,
must arise from reflecting on the difficulty of the undertaking.
There are different roads to the temple of Fame in every art; and
that which was followed by Josquin and his emulators, was too full
of thorns, brambles, and impediments, to be pursued by men of
common diligence and abilities. Painting and sculpture, which are to
delight and deceive the eye, do not, any more than music, confine
their powers to the mere endeavour at pleasing the sense, of which
they are the object; and there are pictures, statues, and musical
compositions, which afford very little pleasure to the eye or ear,
but what is intellectual, and arises from reflecting on the learning,
correctness, and great labour which the artist must have
on them.
750
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
Canons of difficult solution, were, to musicians, a species of
problem, and served more to exercise the mind than please the
sense; and though a peculiar genius, or penetration, is requisite
for the quick discovery of riddles and rebusses, yet, still more
cunning is necessary to their production; and, however
contemptuously these harmonical contrivances may be treated by
the lazy lovers of more airy and simple compositions, the study of
them is still of such use to musical students, in their private
exercises, that a profound and good Contrapuntist has, perhaps,
never yet been made by other means. Those who despise this
seeming Gothic pedantry too much, resemble such half-bred
scholars, as have expected to arrive at a consummate knowledge
of the Roman Classics, without submitting to the drudgery of
Grammar and Syntax. Indeed a great Composer has, perhaps,
never existed since the invention of Counterpoint, who, at his
moments of leisure, has not attempted to manifest superior learn-
ing and skill, in the production of Canons, and other difficult
arrangements and combinations of sound; and who, if he succeeded,
was not vain of his abilities. Before the cultivation of Dramatic
Music, as Canon and Fugue were universally studied and
reverenced, they were brought to such a degree of perfection, as
is wonderful; and though good taste has long banished them from
the Theatre, yet the Church and Chamber still, occasionally, retain
them, with great propriety; in the Church fliey preclude levity,
and in the Chamber exercise ingenuity.
As Euclid ranks first among ancient geometricians, so Josquin,
for the number, difficulty, and excellence of his Musical Canons,
seems entitled to the first place among the old Composers, who have
been most assiduous and successful in the cultivation of this difficult
species of Musical calculation.
But though the style of Josquin, even in his secular
Compositions, is grave, and chiefly in Fujgue, Imitation, and other
contrivances, with little Air or Melody ; yet this defect is amply
supplied to Contrapuntists, and lovers of Choral Music, by purity
of harmony, and ingenuity of design. Indeed, I have never seen,
among all his productions that I have scored, a single movement
which is not stamped with some mark of the great master. And
though Fugue and Canon were so universally cultivated in his
time, when there were many men of abilities in this elaborate and
complicated kind of writing ; there is such a manifest superiority in
his powers, such a simple majesty in his ideas, and such dignity of
design, as wholly justify the homage he received.
Yet, notwithstanding the eminence to which our great
Contrapuntist arrived, neither his fame nor his fortune, his
protectors, nor friends, seem to have exempted him from
mortifications, during the time he was in Italy ; when he seems to
have complained to his friend Serafino AcquiUano, the poet, of the
splendor in which some fashionable buffoons lived, while he was in
want and obscurity. A sonnet, which was produced on the
751
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
occasion, is preserved by Zarlino, which we shall present to our
readers, though it will perhaps be said to border a little on that
clinquant and concetto, of which Boileau unjustly accuses Tasso.
Sonnet on Josquin des Prez.
Giosquin non dir che'l del sia crudo e empio,
Che t'adornb de si soblime ingegno :
Et s'alcum veste ben, lascia lo sdegno ;
Che di do gode alcun Buffone 6 Sempio
Da quel ch' io ti dird prendi I'essempio ;
U argento e I'or, che da se stess' e degno,
St mostra nudo, e sol si veste il legno,
Quando s'adorna alcun Theatro o Tempio.
II favor di costor vien presto manco,
E mille volte il di, sia pur giocondo,
Si muta il stato lor di nero in bianco,
Ma chi ha virtu, gira a suo modo il mondo ;
Com' huom che nuota e hd la Zucca al flanco.
Metti 'I sott' acqua pur, non teme il fondo (/).
It will perhaps be thought, that too much notice has been taken
of this old Composer, Josquin, and his works ; but, as he is the
type of all Musical excellence at the time in which he lived, the less
need be said of his cotemporaries, who, in general, appear to have
been but his imitators. And, indeed, it seems as if only one original
genius of the same kind, could ever burst out at a time in any art or
nation. Perhaps, two causes may be assigned for the servility and
contraction of the rest : the prejudice of the public, and timidity of
individuals. First impressions are difficult to efface, and candidates
for favour or applause, eagerly pursue the road to it, which has
already been traced by a successful traveller.
(/) Ne'er say, 0 Josquin, Fate's to thee unjust.
Blest with a genius so divine;
Nor let the dress of vile buffoons disgust,
Who but in borrow'd plumage shine.
Nor gold, nor silver, want to be adora'd,
Their price from worth intrinsic springs;
While structures form'd of meaner wood are acorn'd,
Till cover'd with more precious things.
Of these Buffoons how soon the favour fades,
Who ev'ry hour their trappings change;
But short neglect true virtue ne'er degrades,
She safely through the world may range !
Buoy'd up like one whom friendly cork surrounds,
Though plung'd in ocean fathoms deep,
Elastic still with native force she bounds,
And still above the wave will keep.
Serafino dalT Acquilla, the author of. this Sonnet, was born 1466, and died in the year
1500. He was much esteemed, says Crescimbim, 1st delta Volg. Poesia, p. 206, by the first
personages of his time; not only for his Poetry, but Music. His epitaph is cited by this writer
as beautiful and curious.
Qui giace Serafin : Qartiti hor puoi,
Sol d'aver visto il sasso che lo serra,
Assai sei debitors agli occhi tuoi.
Here, reader, Serafino lies,
Behold his monumental stone;
Then pass, and grateful bless thy eyes:
They now for thee enough have done.
752 ;
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
Josquin, according to Walther (g), was buried in the church of
St. Gudule, at Brussels,* where his figure and epitaph are still to
be seen. His death must have happened early in the sixteenth
Centuiy, but the exact time I have not been able to discover,
though I have found, not only several Latin poems that were written
on the occasion, but the Music to two of them, in the seventh collec-
tion of French Songs in five and six parts, printed at Antwerp, by
Tylman Susato 1545, and preserved in the British Museum [K. 3.
a. 7] (h). One of these was set by Jerom Vinders, a Netherlander,
in seven parts (i) ; in scoring it, I found the harmony good, but
without much fancy, or ingenuity of design. The other has been
set twice, by Benedictus, in four parts, and by Josquin's scholar,
Nicholas Gombert, in six. Both these compositions axe in the third
Ecclesiastical mode of E, with a minor second, as well as third ;
which M. de Blainville some years ago wished to pass on the public
for a third, or new key, different from the major and minor, which
comprise all secular Music, at present. And it is extraordinary, that
this pretension should have had aiiy abettors in a Roman Catholic
country, where old Compositions in this Mode are daily performed
in Cathedrals and Collegiate Churches. However, it was a matter
of wonder and debate, during some time, in France (&).
After performing the tedious task of scoring the Music of the
N&nia on Josquin, as set by Gombert,**! found its chief merit to
consist in Imitations of his master. The composition of Benedict
has, however, considerable merit ; and though I can hardly allow
room to a movement of such length, I shall insert it here, in honour
of the admirable Josquin, and likewise as an example of the method
of writing in this equivocal Key, and the dexterity with which all
Semitones are avoided, except those of the Diatonic Scale, and
Hexachords.
There are several agreeable combinations in this Monody, which
have a modern appearance, and seem hazarded for the first time,
by the author, or his cotemporaries; though they are now so
common and so necessary, that a Contrapuntist would find it difficult
to avoid them.
(#) Musicalisches Lexicon.
(h) Le septieme livre, contenant 24 Chansons a 5 <$• a 6 Parties, par feu de bonne
memoirs <$• ires excellent en Musique Josquin des Prez. Avec trois epitaphes du diet Josquin.
composees par divers aucteurs.
(») Lamentatio super morte Josquin de Prez. Per Jeronimuni Vinders. 7 vocum.
0 mors inevitabilis,
Mors amara, mors crudelis, &c.
(A) See Mercure de France, 1751, & Diet, de Musique par Rousseau, Art. Mode.
*Late in life Josquin was appointed to the post of Provost of the Collegiate Church of
Cond6 (St. Quentin) where he <fced in 1521. He was buried in the choir of that church.
** It is a great pity that Burney did not include this work hi this History. At the time of
Josquin's death Gombert must have been only a young man, and it would have been interesting
to see an early composition from one who afterwards became famous.
There is a work by Gombert in Susato's 7th Book of Chansons (B.M. K. 3, a. 7) and in
the B.M. (Add. MSS. 31390) i? i fantasy for 6 viols by him dating from about 1578.
Vox,, i. 48 753
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
In Josquinum a prato, Musicorum principem Monodia.
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Remarks on the preceding Composition
(1) At the twenty-third bar, we have a | to A, and a false
5th to B, both difficult to find in compositions of equal antiquity.
(2) Triplets are introduced in the Altus, and afterwards in the
Tenor, while the other parts continue to move in Common Time.
This mixture of Measures was very fashionable in the Music of all
Europe, about the beginning of the sixteenth Century, particularly
in England, as we shall see hereafter.
(3) The 2d is here accompanied by the 4th, which is continued
as a false 5th, to the succeeding base; circumstances which are
so unusual in these early times of Counterpoint, that a musical
antiquary would doubt the evidences of his eyes and ears, if other
circumstances did not confirm it. At this time, the usual
accompaniment of the 2d was the 5th; and if a 4th sound was wanting,
the Octave of the 2d or 5th was used. But here the point of imitation
between the Tenor and Altus made the 4th a necessary
accompaniment of the 2d.
757
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
(4) Here is a very beautiful and unexpected close in E minor,
alia moderna, which I never saw, in Music of this early period,
before, and of which I should have doubted, as no accidental Flats or
Sharps are marked in the printed copy, had not the ancient rules
of Counterpoint authorised, and even required an F$ in the
Tenor, to prevent a false 5th with B in the Base; and a D# in
the Soprano, as a major 3d to that same B, previous to its falling
a 5th. The solemnity of the Modulation, and ingenuity of Fugue and
Imitation, in this Composition, render it not only worthy of these
remarks, but the attention of learned Musicians.
BENEDICT,* who set this Nania, or Monody on the death
of Josquin, to Music, flourished early in the sixteenth Century,
and was author of several Motets, and sacred Songs, that were
printed at Antwerp and Louvain, in Collections which are preserved
in the British Museum; in one of which (Z), he is twice styled
Appenzeller, which seems to imply, that he was a native of
Appenzel, in Switzerland. Though his name occurs not in the
lists of Flemish and French Musicians, given by L. Guicciardini,
and Rabelais, nor in the Dictionary of Walther; yet, in scoring his
productions, it appears, that, with respect to Harmony, built on
such rules as were "then established, no Composer of the same
period wrote with more ease and purity.
We find that Counterpoint was cultivated in Italy during the
fifteenth Century, not only at Rome, for the use of the Pontifical
Chapel, but at Florence, for secular purposes. Antonio Francesco
Grazzini, commonly called // Lasca, in the dedication of the first
edition of the Canti Carnascialeschi (m), or Songs that used to be
sung through the streets of Florence, by persons in masks, during
Carnival time, tells us, that the first of these Songs which was
performed in this manner, in the time of Lorenzo il Magnifico, was
set to Music in three parts, by a certain Arrigo Tedesco, Maestro
di Capella of the Church of St. John, and a Musician of great
reputation, in those times. Soon after, many such Songs were
composed in four, eight, twelve, and even fifteen parts (n).
However I may be inclined to celebrate the activity, talents,
enthusiasm, and success, with which the Italians have long
(2) Lib. primus. Ecclesiasticarum Cantionum quatuor vocum, vulgo Moteta vacant, tatn
ex Veteri, quam Novo Testamento, ab optimis quibusque hujus atatis Musicis Compositarum.
Antea nunquam excusus, 1153.
(m) Tutti t Trionfi, Cam, Mascherate o Canti Carnascialeschi andati per Firenze dal tempo
di Magnifico Lorenzo de' Medici fino al anno, 1559-
(») These Songs, after the manner of the Greek Scolia, are applicable to persons ol
different trades and occupations; among the rest, there is one for those who played on the
Rebec, the Trumpet, and various Musical instruments, used then by the German Troops, called
by the Italians, Lanzi.
* Benedictus Ducis (b. circa 1480; date of death unknown). A good number of his
compositions are known, including an Elegy on the death of Erasmus. A remarkably fine
motet of his, Peccantem me quolidie, was printed at Augsburg in 1545. He is supposed to
have visited England about 1515 but there is no mention of this in contemporary records.
The Benedict styled Appenzelfer is another composer who was born at Oudenaarde early in
the ioth cent.
758
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
cultivated Music, I shall not do it with that malignant spirit of
comparison, which never praises one nation or individual, except
at the expence of another. And it is but justice to say, that earlier
proofs of correct Counterpoint, learned Fugue, and ingenious
contrivance, can be produced by the Netherlanders, Germans,
French, and English, than by the natives of Italy; who seem at
first to be stimulated to the study of Counterpoint, in different
parts of Italy, by the precepts and examples of foreigners. Tinctor
was at the head of the Neapolitan school, and Josquin of the
Roman, about the same time as we meet with the name of Arrigo
Tedesco, in the writings of Politian, and other Florentine authors
of the fifteenth century. I always imagined, that this last must
have been a German Composer, but was unable to meet with any
specimens of his works, till I discovered from a passage in
Glareanus, p. 348, that ARRIGO TEDESC9, and HENRY ISAAC,
[c. 1450-1517] were the same person. " Politian," says this author,
"celebrates Henry Isaac; but by a corrupt name, and foolishly calls
him Arrigo." But it is common with the Italians, in speaking of
foreigners, to use only their Christian names; or, if any cognomen
be added, it is that of their country.
Glareanus has preserved several of Henry Isaac's compositions,
"in which," he says, " great genius and erudition are discoverable.
Henry Isaac," continues he, " embellished the Ecclesiastical
Chants, in which he found any majesty or force, with such
Harmony, as made them superior to any new subjects of modern
times. He was particularly fond of making one part sustain a
note, while the rest were moving about, like the waves of the sea,
against a rock, during a storm." However, we are enabled to
judge by a Score of the Compositions of this author, upon whom
Glareanus bestows such warm praises, how remote the Art of Music
was from perfection, when his Dodecachordon was written. There
is, indeed, some ingenuity in the imitations of a movement, in
four parts, inserted in this book (o), but no grace in the melody, or
remarkable sweetness in the Harmony : the one is rendered uncouth,
and the other crude, by too close an adherence to the mode, which
he is pleased to call Mixolydian (p).
The following Composition, however, will shew the progress
which Counterpoint had now made, if we remark how frequently
this author uses discords, of which he has pressed a considerable
number into his service; particularly a naked ninth, which I do
not remember to have seen before.*
(o) Exemplum—cujus exordium plus quam did potest admirandam habet s^vitatem, non
absque summa aurium voluptate. P. 346.
(£) Ubi supra.
* Henry Isaacs was undoubtedly one of the greatest composers of his day. According to
Grove's (Vol. ii., p. 742) "Isaac's genius, versatility and fecundity place him among the great
musicians. He was fertile in every mode of musical expression practised in his period, sacred
and secular." A modern reprint of his great compilation of music for the Offices according to
the Constance use, known as the Choralis Constantinus (completed by Ludwig Sens and
published by Johan Ott at Nuremburg between 1500-55) was issued by the D.T.O. in 1898 and
1909. The same Society also published a volume of his secular music (Vol. xiv. i).
759
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
HENRY ISAAC.
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(a) None of the Chromatic Semitones are marked in the printed Copy of either of the
Compositions of Henry Isaac; nor indeed would the Puritans in Church Music, at the time
they were written, have suffered the Lydian or Mixolydian Mode to be contaminated by altered
intervals. (The last note in the treble part of the penultimate bar should be a minim.)
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
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The most pleasing production of Henry Isaac that has been
preserved seems to be the following, which, if we may believe
Glareanus, is in the true Lydian Mode of the Ancients.
761
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Example from Henry Isaac, of the Ancient Lydian Mode,
according to Glareanus.
(1) As I regard Henry Isaac to have been a more ancient Composer than Benedictus (see
Page 758) the g, if I may depend on my Memory, occur here for the first time.
(2) Though the Harmony of f , which is here given to the Base A, seems uncouth and
unwarrantable to the Eye, yet it will not offend the Ear in this place; and it is curious
to find so early a Contrapuntist venturing upon a Combination of sounds, that would be
audacious in a Modern,
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
The next eminent contrapuntist, in point of time, to Okenheim,
Josquin, and Henry Isaac, is JACOB HOBRECHT [c. 1430-1505]
or OBRETH, a Netherlander, who initiated Erasmus, when a
youth, in the secrets of his art, as Damon was formerly the
Music-master of Socrates (q). Glareanus, the disciple of Erasmus,
says, that he had frequently heard his Preceptor speak of Hobrecht
as a Musician who had no superior, and say, that he had such a
rapid and wonderful facility in writing, that he composed an
excellent Mass in one night, which was very much admired by the
learned (r). Indeed, in scoring his Mass Si Dedero, which was
printed at Venice in 1508 (s), it appears, though the movements are
somewhat too similar in subject, that the Counterpoint is clean,
clear, and masterly. And this is the chief praise that is justly due
to most of the compositions of the same period ; which, in other
respects, so much resemble each other, that the specimens already
given exhibit almost all the variety of melody and pleasure which
the productions of a whole century can furnish. Indeed, as air and
grace were not at this time the objects of a Composer's pursuits,
they should not be sought or expected. Those, however, who have
heard modern Melody, Harmony, and Modulation, to a degree of
satiety, and admire the Fugues, Canons, and other ingenious
contrivances of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, would have
(3) Here if the 8 were accompanied by
be the ist time of admitting such a Chord;
(q) See Book i. p. 325.
(s) Missar, divers, auct. 1. I.
a 3d sound it must be the 4th, which would perhaps
as the i were long used before the %
(r) Dodecachord, p. 456.
763
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
great pleasure in the performance or contemplation of such Music
as this, which is become new by excess of antiquity.* Few or none
of the passages have been retained in modern Music ; and the
harmony and modulation having been regulated by the ecclesiastical
tones, or modes, which have been so long exploded in this country,
every thing would be as new to a Dilettante of the present age, as if
he only now heard Music for the first time ; so that, those who can
tolerate nothing but what is ancient, and those, who are in constant
search of something new, will, in these authors, find Music equally
adapted to the several tastes, and be likewise furnished with an
excuse for their fastidiousness.
One of the most voluminous Composers of the period under
consideration, was PIERRE DE LA RUE \_d. 1518] or, as he is
called by writers in Latin, PETRUS PLATENSIS. What country
gave him birth, is now difficult to ascertain ; Walther calls him a
Netherlander ; Glareanus, a Frenchman : others suppose him to
have been a Spaniard. It is, however, certain, that he was in high
favour with Prince Albert, and Princess Isabella, of the Low
Countries ; that a work under his name was published at Antwerp,
with this title : El Parnasso Espanol de Madrigales y Villancicos &
quatro, cinco y seis voces ; besides Masses and Motets to Latin
words ; and that he was a very learned Contrapuntist.
Many of his compositions for the church are still extant in the
Museum Collection of Masses and Motets, some of which were
published as early as the year 1503, immediately after the invention
of Musical Types.** The following Benedictus, from his Mass de
beata Virgine, is selected as a specimen of his style, and free use of
the four principal discords, of second, fourth, seventh, and ninth.
In the fourteenth Bar of this movement, likewise, the fifth, though
somewhat aukwardly, is made a discord by the sixth (t).
Pierre de la Rue.
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resolved upon the fifth. And at No. (2) the ninth, which is wholly unaccompanied by a
concord, must have been very unusual, at this early period of Counterpoint. .
* The 7.V1T.M . has published the complete works of Obrecht edited by J. Wolff,
**He was a native of Picardy and was born about the middle of the I5th cent.
Petroca published 5 of his masses in 1503 and one or two more later. There are 23
by him in MS. Scattered amongst various collections of the i6th century are to be
about 25 Motets and 10 secular pieces. y
764
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
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The most ancient Contrapuntist of the French school, of whose
Compositions I have been able to find any remains, is ANTHONY
BRUMEL, [c. 1480— c. .1520] cotemporary with Josquin, and
scholar of Okenheim, I 'scored an entire Mass by him, called /de<yf,
I know not why, unless it be the name, or initial word of a German
drinking Song. It is printed in the first book of Missarum
diversorum,, in . the Museum collection - [J£, I *d.8:] . .He does not
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
appear to have had much invention ; however, his harmony in
general, is pure, and melody and notation more clear and simple
than was common at the period when he flourished. Glareanus
seems to characterise him justly, when he says, that he was a very
able Contrapuntist, but was possessed of more learning than genius
(u). The same author informs us (x), that at the beginning of the
sixteenth Century, when he was arrived at an extreme old age, he
composed a Kyrie Eleison, in competition with Josquin, in which
not only in the Tenor, but in all the parts, he introduced the subject,
ascending and descending, with wonderful skill. There is much
more plain and simple Counterpoint in his Mass, which I have
scored, and less Fugue, Canon, or imitation, than I have ever seen
in a composition of the same length and period. The following
short Duo has some faint glimmerings of expression, besides the
merit of harmony and contrivance.*
Duo.
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dihgentia & arte valwt, quant natures indulgentia. Dodecachordon, P. 456.
M P. IS2.
*. Reprints of some of his work are in Vol. 8 of Expert's Les. Maltres wusicicns d* I*
Renaissance. A icmorkable work m 8 parts, each.pa'rt being in a different mode is included in
Faber's Institutes Music* (W53). A copy of F»6r'« Work fc in the KM. (7^7 a~ 77).
766
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
There is a Mass in the same collection by Gaspar,* an old
composer, probably a native of France, whose name occurs in
Franchinus among the most delightful Contrapuntists of his time.
The composition of this Mass, which is upon tie subject of an old
Song, n'as tu pas, is excellent, with respect to harmony ; and the
points of Imitation are such as would not disgrace Palestrina, or
even a much more modern author, as to Melody, though printed in
1508, and probably composed much sooner.
Anthony Feum, or Fevin, a native of Orleans, is mentioned by
Glareanus with great encomiums, as the successful emulator of
Josquin, and a young man whose modesty was equal to his genius.
There are three of his Masses in the Museum Collection, which, in
scoring, I find excellent, particularly that which is called Sancta
Trinitas, the second Movement of which I shall give, as a specimen
of his abilities.**
ANTHONY FEVIN, or FEUM.
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* Better known as Gaspar van Weerbeck (born about 1440; date of death unknown). Some
Masses and other works were published by Petrucci between 150.5 and 1509. An Agnus Dei, by
him is given by Wooldridge in Ox. HM. (Vol. ii. p. 93).
** Henri Expert has reprinted a Mass. Mente Tot a, by Fevin. Works by him were published
by Attaingnant in 1534. Other works appear in various other collections, and there are
works in MSS. at Munich, Vienna, Rome (Sistine Chapel) and Toledo.
767
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The Points in this Movement are pleasing, and Introduced in a
Masteily manner: Morley, who tells us in his List of Authors, at the
end of his Introduction, that he had consulted the works of Fevin,
has made great use of the point, which is led off at this Mark, \/ in
one of his 3 part Songs, beginning " Cease myne Eyes."
The other Movements are all on agreable Subjects, and treated
in a clear and able manner, but are too long for insertion; however
the close of one of them being in triple time, is curious, and
beautiful, for the age in which it was Composed.
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Among the first Masses that were printed, there is one by Philip
Basiron, which is dry, aukward, and devoid of invention and
contrivance. Its extreme difficulty of notation, from the frequency
of ligatures, and obscurity of obsolete prolations, encourages a
belief that the author preceded Josquin; but as none of his works
remain, except the Mass in this collection, it cannot be determined
when, or where he lived, no mention having been made of him by
Glareanus or Walther.*
This author was peculiarly fond of unlimited Pauses, in the
middle of his movements, having sometimes four together, and
once, in the Credo, at the words <§• homo factus est, he has eight
successively. As every thing has been tried in music, at all times,
that was likely to please, surprise, or impress the public with an
idea of the author's superior genius, taste, or science; so there has
been at every period, some fashionable folly, extravagance, or
affectation among musicians: for whenever a happy novelty has
been started, by a man gifted with real genius, immediately
another, with none, has given it to the public in a larger dose, with
as little discretion as a cook, who, hearing that an ounce of some
particular ingredient had rendered a new invented dish extremely
palatable, should think it would be still more exquisite, if he
doubled the quantity.
There is no other Composer of this high period whose Masses
have been preserved in the same collection as those of the great
Contrapuntists already mentioned, to whom we shall assign a
separate niche, except JOHN MOUTON [c. 1475-1522] . Glareanus
calls him a Frenchman, but Lud. Guicciardiru claims him as a
native of the Netherlands. Wherever he was bom, it is certain
that he spent the chief part of his life in the service of the French
court, during the reigns of Lewis the Twelfth, and Francis the First.
He was a disciple ot Josquin (y), and master of Adrian Willaert,
not his scholar, as Printz, and others after him, have asserted.
(y) See the notes on Rabelais Moderne. To. V. zde, partie, P. 54.
* He was a follower and perhaps a pupil of Dufay and Binchois, and may be regarded as
one of a small group which included Regis and Caron, and which formed a link between the
first and second school of Netherland composers. A work by Basiron published in 1508, is in
the B.M. (K. i. d. 8).
VOI,. i. 49 769
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Notwithstanding the rapture with which Glareanus speaks of
this Composer's Masses, they seem to me inferior in melody, rhythm,
and design to those of Josquin, De la Rue, and Fevin. It is in his
fourth Mass that I first met with two Flats at the Clef, and an
accidental Flat upon A. In scoring this composition, consisting of
fourteen movements, I can discover no variety of measure or subject;
nor is the want of melody compensated by richness of harmony,
ingenuity of contrivance, or learning of modulation. His Motets,
however, if not more nervous and elaborate than those of his
cotemporaries, are more smooth and polished: but he lived in a
court.
His Motet, Non nobis Domine, is not only pleasing, but masterly.
It was composed in 1509, for the birth of Renee, the second daughter
of Lewis the Twelfth, by Anne of Bretagne, as appears in the body
of the Motet (z); and this is sufficient to confute the opinion of
Mouton having been the scholar of Adrian Willaert, who, according
to his own account, went into Italy very young, during the
pontificate of Leo the Tenth (a).
He composed another Motet in 1514, on the death of Queen
Anne de Bretagne, but the best of his compositions that I have seen,
is the Motet Quam pulchra es Arnica mea, from the Song of
Solomon. It is composed for three Tenors and a Base; the subjects
of Fugue are pleasing, and treated with abilities. It is unfortunately
too long for the whole to have a place in this volume; but, as
examples of his style, I shall insert the first movement, and a short
Duo from one of his Masses.*
Jo. Mouton.
MOTETTI DELLA CORONA.
1: iii. .No. xii.
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(z} This princess was married during the reign of Francis the First, to the Duke of
Ferrara, after whose death she became a Hugonottc. Clement Marot, the poet, was her
Secretary; she died at Montargis, 1575.
(«) Zarlino, Istit. 4**- t*rte. P. 346.
*Mouton's birthplace is now supposed to have been in the Department of the Somme.
In the Bumey MSS. (B.M. Add. MSS. 11582) are to be found more examples scored by him.
Eitner (Q.L.) lists 75 motets, etc., 9 masses and some chansons. Petrucci printed a collection of
2i motets by Mouton (Motteti de la Corona, 1514 and 1519) Le Roy printed 22 of his Motets in
1555. A copy of this work is in the B.M. (K. 4. c. 14).
The Motet Quam Pulchra given by Burney was at one time attributed to Josquin.
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Ex Glariano. P. 347.
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England
Having endeavoured to describe the progress of Counterpoint
on the Continent, and to do justice to the genius and abilities of
its first successful cultivators, of whose productions we have any
remains, it is time, from such records and memorials as the
diligence of research has discovered, to give an account of its state,
during the same period, on our own Island; and it has already
been shewn, from the MS. Musical Tracts, and Specimens of
Composition of remote times, which have been preserved, that the
natives were neither insensible to the charms of Music, nor negligent
in its cultivation.
The examples of Counterpoint in other countries, which have
hitherto been exhibited, are entirely confined to Church Music,
and, of any other kind, I have been able to find but little, either
in print or MS. of higher antiquity than near the middle of the
sixteenth century; yet I have not only seen Masses in four, five,
and six parts, composed by the natives of England, which are
equally ancient with those on the continent, but Secular Songs, in
our language, of two and three parts, and in good Counterpoint,
of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth century.
A very curious and valuable musical MS. is preserved, which
once appertained to Dr. ROBERT FAYRFAX [d. 1521], an
eminent English composer, during the reigns of Henry VII. and
Henry VIII.; it was afterwards in the possession of General Fayrfax,
and upon his demise made a part of the Thoresby collection, at the
sale of which it was purchased by Mr. White (6).*
(&) This MS. is still the property of the worthy Mr. John White, of Newgate-street; who
is likewise in possession of a valuable collection of ancient rarities, as well as natural productions,
of the most curious and extraordinary kind; no one cf which, however, is more remarkable,
than the obliging manner in which he allows them to be viewed and examined by his friends.
* This MS., which according to Davy (History of English Music, and ed. p. 84) dates from
about 1504 or earlier, is now in the B.M. (Add. MSS. 5465).
773
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
It consists of a collection of the most ancient English Songs,
to which the Music has been preserved. The writing is very clear
and intelligible, for the period when it was transcribed, though
the time of the musical characters, from the want of bars, and the
use of ligatures and prolation, with a mixture of red notes for
diminution, is sometimes difficult to ascertain.
Having been allowed by the present proprietor of this MS. to
transcribe what part of it I pleased, I have scored the whole, by
which I am enabled to judge of the progress which had been made
in harmony by my countrymen, and to familiarize myself with the
prevailing cast of their melody, at the beginning of the sixteenth
centuiy.
The Composers of these Songs are William of Newark [c. 1450-
1509], Sheryngham, Edmund Turges [d. 1502], Tutor, or
Tudor, Gilbert Banester, Browne, Richard Davy, William
Cornyshe, junior [d. 1523], Syr Thomas Phelyppes (c), and Robert
Fayrfax. But little is known now concerning these musicians,
except that Turges is a name that occurs among the musicians of
Henry the Sixth (d). Tudor was author of several compositions in
the Music Book of Prince Henry, afterwards Henry the Eighth,
Cornyshe was of Henry the Seventh's chapel; and Fayrfax was
admitted to a Doctor's degree in music, at Cambridge, 1511; but
as he is not styled Doctor in this MS. we may reasonably suppose
his compositions in it, to have been anterior to his receiving that
honour in the University.*
I shall select a few of the Songs in this MS, and insert them
as specimens of our early Lyric Compositions.
(c) Sir was a title formerly given to persons in orders, as well as to Knights : and Fuller,
in his Church Hist, book vi. instances a great number of this class among the incumbents of
Chauntries, in the cathedral of St. Paul, in the time of Edward the Sixth; and says, that,
"such Priests as have the addition of Sir before their Christian names, were men not graduated
in the University, being in orders, but not in degrees; whilst others entitled Masters, had
commenced in the Arts." P. 352.
This explains and gives considerable antiquity to a four-part Round, that was first printed
by John Playford, in Catch that Catch can, or a Collection of Catches, Rounds, and Canons,
published by John Hilton, 1652.
Now I am married, Sir John Fie not curse:
He join'd us together for better for worse;
But if I were single, I must tell you plaine,
I would be advis'd ere I married againe.
(d} See Gloss, to the late Edit, of Chaucer, at the word Harfiour.
* William Newark was Master of the Chapel Royal Choristers in the reign of Henry VII.
Baneister (c. 1445-87) was the Master of the Children of the Chapel Koyal in the later
I5th century.
John Browne. For an article on the identity of this composer see an article by Grattan
Flood in the Musical Times for August, 1920.
Richard Davy. Little is known about this composer beyond the fact that he was at
Magdalen College, Oxford, about 1483, and was organist and choir master there from 1490 — 1492.
William Cornyshe succeeded William Newark as Master of the Chapel Royal in 1509.
Phelyppes. This seems to be the only known composition by this man.
Tudor. The words of one of the compositions seem to refer to Prince Arthur Tudor.
Fayrfax. A mass, which he submitted as the exercise for his Oxford degree, is still in
existence in the Lambeth MS. (Cod. I). He took his Mus. Doc. Cambridge in 1502.
The fullest information about these early Tudor composers is to be found in W. H. Grattan
Flood's, Early Tudor Composers (Oxford Press, 1925).
774
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
William Newark. From the F^yrfax MS.
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A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
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776
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777
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Robert Fayrfax.
(a) Security,
778
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
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This Song has been very incorrectly transcribed, in the Fayrfax
M.S. I have tried to restore many passages, without being certain
that I have succeeded; particularly where the Base Clef occurs:
those, however, who wish to know how it stands in the Original,
have only to erase that Clef.
The Words of this Song seem to have been addressed to Hemy
the VII on his ascending the Throne, after the battle of Bosworth
1485.
(6) Alleviation
779
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Edmund Turges.
From the Fayrfax MS
.•^' J H ,i,
j;^; /fa* ^/ ^
(a) This part in the MS. is written in the Mezzo Soprano Clef of C on the ad line. The
principal Melody seems to have been given to the Tenor.
780
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
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BY' FALS SEMBLAUNCE
WHER THAT IS U - SYD
All the Composers in Europe, about the end of the Fifteenth
Century, seem to have had a passion for Mixed Measures; and there
is not one Song in the Fayrfax MS. without instances of one part
moving in Common Time while another is in Triple : a contrivance
that occasions nothing but confusion to the Ear, which is utterly
unable to form a determined Idea -of the Measure in which any one
of the parts is moving. But at the latter end of each Strain of this
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Song, still more confusion is occasioned, by all the parts, continuing
to perform, in Common Time, passages that are absolutely in Triple
Measure; see at this mark + where the accent seems to require that
the Notes should be executed thus.
or thus
3i
p«' f
Most of these musicians seem to have been merely secular
composers, as I have met with none of their names, except that
of Fayrfax, among those for the church. Cornyshe,* indeed,
seems more a secular' composer than the rest; and, if we may judge
of his private character, by the choice of his poetry from Skelton's
Ribaldry, he may be supposed a man of no very refined morals,
or delicacy of sentiment. His compositions, however, though
clumsy and inelegant, if selecting such words be forgiven, are not
without variety or ingenuity, for so early a period of Counterpoint.
He seems the first who had the courage to use the chord of the
Sharp 7th of a Key, with a false 5th. He frequently changes the
measure, like the French, in their old operas, and still more like
them, composes in a kind of Rondeau, returning several times to
the same short strain : Purcell, near two hundred years later, did
the same.
• n? u.§™JVf ConwsheVChurdimuMc, examples of which aw to be found
IB the Eton Choir Books U jwcceis). at Cfiins College, Oxbridge, and in the libraiy of
Koyu College
7«*
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
The music, indeed, of these Ditties, is somewhat uncouth, but
it is still better than the poetry.*
The Saxons, who dispossessed the Britons of the greatest part
of the Island, we find, from Bede's account of Csedmon (e), had
poetry, though not rhyme, in the seventh century; for he repeatedly
calls the compositions of Caedmon, carmina, poemata, an,d in one
place versus (/). No traces, however, of rhyme, or metre, can be
found in our language, till some years after the Conquest, at which
time French was forced upon us, and, till the reign of Edward the
Third, it was the practice in all schools to construe Latin into
Norman French; a language which was fashionable at our court,
even before the time of William the Conqueror; as Edward the
Confessor, who had been brought up at the court of Normandy,
encouraged many Normans to follow him into England.
In the thirty-sixth year of Edward the Third, however, a law
was made, " That all pleas in the court of the King, or any other
lord, shall be pleaded and adjudged in the English tongue" : and the
reason recited in the preamble was that the French tongue was
too much unknown. And yet for near sixty years afterwards, the
proceedings in parliament appear to have been in French (g).
The English of Robert of Gloucester, who flourished about 1265,
during the reigns of Henry the Third, and Edward the First (h),
is more Saxon than Norman; however, it would not be very difficult
to read, if the characters in which it is printed had been those in
present use, instead of Saxon, with which it abounds. The language
(e) Eccles. Hist. 1. iv. c 24.
(/) These words in the Saxon translation are rendered leo]? leo]?,
songes, or, songes, and fers : and ars canendl is translated leoj> craeft, or
sang craeft. Essay on the Lang, and Versif. of Chaucer, p. 46.
(g) Ibid. P. 25^
(h} His History of England, in Verse, was published by Heame, 1724.
* Other important collections of about the same period as the Fayrfax MS. are now
known : —
(1) The Eton College MS. It is assumed that the date of this is before 1502, as it does not
mention the Cambridge degree of Fayrfax. Most of the composers whose works are
found in the Fayrfax MS. are represented in the Eton College MS. Burney does
not appear to have known this volume.
(2) The Lambeth MS. : This consists of 18 works, nearly all by Fayrfax, and includes his
Oxford Degree exercise. This MS. is not mentioned by Burney.
(3) Royal MSS. Appendix 58. Besides vocal works dating from the late isth or early
i6th centuries, this MS. contains some very interesting instrumental music. There
are some dance tunes, 3 solos for the virginals, and some lute pieces in tablature.
In this volume is found the famous Hornpipe ascribed to Hugh Aston.
(4) Royal MSS. 8 g. 7; 11 e. n and Appendix 45-8, also contain much interesting early
Tudor music.
(5) Another important work not known to Burney was Wynkyn de Worde's Song Book
(1530) of which the Bass part only is known. The full title is: 'In this boke ar
coteynyd xx soges, ix of iiii ptes and xi of tore ptes." It is now in the B.M.
(6) The Old Hall MS. This MS. contains 138 compositions representative of the period
circa 1430-80, and is now at St. Edmund's College, Old Hall, near Ware.
(7) In the Selden MSS. Bodleian Library, Oxford, is a volume with over 50 pieces
composed before 1455 (MS. b. 26).
This list is by no means complete. A more comprehensive list will be found in Davy's
History of English Music (2nd ed. p. 64 et seq.).
783
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
of Trevisa, 1385 (i), is not very unintelligible, if the 3 be regarded
as a g, for which I believe it was originally meant. About the
first year of Henry the Sixth, 1422, French and English seem
pretty equally balanced, and to have been used indifferently;
however, very little improvement was made in our language and
versification from the time of Edward the Fourth, to that of Henry
the Eighth. Indeed, few English songs are to be found, which
were set to original music during that period; it having been the
fashion for the great to sing none but French words, as appears
by the Music Book of Prince Hemy, son of Henry the Seventh, in
which all the songs are in French, Italian, or Latin.
It was so much the custom for our old poets to write new words
to old tunes, that there was little business for a composer. These
tunes, like those of the Improvisator* of Italy at present, being
very simple, and little more airy than the chants of the church,
required no teaching, and were an easy and ready vehicle for the
Bard who wished to get at the heart of his audience, or, at least, to
engage its attention by the blandishments of his own art, not those
of another. For Metrical Romances, and Historical Ballads of
great length, this kind of plain and familiar melody was best
adapted; as it had scarce any other effect, than just to render the
tone of the narrator's voice a little longer and louder, and
consequently more articulate and distinct, than in common speech.
It is related by Gio Battista Donado (k), that the Turks have
a limited number of tunes, to which the poets of their country
have continued to write for many ages (Q : and the Vocal Music
of our own country seems long to have been equally drcumscribed;
for, till the last century, it seems as if the number of our secular
and popular melodies did not greatly exceed that of the Turks; and
in Virginal books, we find no attempts at an invention, in point of
Air and Melody: the business of our best composers for keyed-
instruments, such as Bird, Morley, Bull, Giles Farnaby, and
Gibbons, being to make variations upon old and well-known tunes;
a fashion which was carried to such excess, that these melodies,
which were in themselves so easy, that " Plowmen whistled them
o'er the furrow'd land," by a mere multiplication of notes, without
accent, grace, or meaning, became so difficult, that the greatest
players in Europe of the present age, who are so frequently accused
of levity, caprice and tricks, are utterly unable to perform them;
and yet this has been pointed out as the period of perfection, and
true simplicity in music, while modern musicians have said, " by a
(t) "Trevisa was a painful and faithful translator of many and great books into English,
as Polichronicon, written by Ranulphus of Chester, Bartholomaeus d& rtrum proprietatibus, &c.
But his masterpiece was the translation of the Old and New Testament He died 1307."
Fuller's Church History of Britain.
(k) This author was a Venetian Senator, and Ambassador at Constantinople, 1688.
(I) L'habbiano (la Musica) i Turchi, solo Per traditions che passa la memoria nef
successori, e che consistent in venti quattro one: cioe sei Malenchoniche, sei allegre, set
junbonde, set mehflue, o pure amorose.
784
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
variety of treble Instruments, and a vicious taste, to have given
harmony its mortal wound (m)."
We are told (n) that Sir Thomas Wyatt was the first who
introduced Italian numbers into English versification: this may
have contributed to improve our Lyric poetry; but, to confess the
truth, from the few poets of the first class throughout Europe, who,
at this period, condescended to write Madrigals, and Songs for
Music, it seems that the rage for Canon, Fugue, multiplied parts,
and dissimilar melodies, moving at the same time, had so much
employed the composers, and weaned the attention of the hearers
of these learned, or, as some call them, Gothic contrivances, from
Poetry, that the wor,ds of a Song seem to have been only a pretence
for singing (o); and as the poets of the two or three last centuries
were in little want of music, musicians, in their turn, manifested
as little respect for poetry; for in these elaborate compositions, the
words are rendered utterly unintelligible by repetitions of particular
members of a verse; by each part singing different words at the
same time; and by an utter inattention to accent.
But, however inelegant, uncouth, and imperfect our Lyric
compositions may have been, till after the middle of the sixteenth
century, our Counterpoint and church Music arrived at a perfection
with respect to art, contrivance, and correctness of harmony, about
that time, which at least equalled the best of any other country.
A set of books, containing masses and services to Latin words,
some of which were composed in the time of Henry the Seventh,
and all before the Reformation, is preserved in the Music School
at Oxford. These volumes contain compositions by John Taverner,
Dr. Fayrfax, Aveiy Burton, John Marbec, William Kasar, Hugh
Ashton, Thomas Ashwell, John Norman, John Shepherd, and Dr.
Tye. The pieces by the three or four last, are entered in a modern
hand, with different characters, and paler ink. The chief part of
the compositions are transcribed in a large, distinct, and fine hand,
and character, but Bars not having been yet introduced, and being
all ad longam, alia breve, or in tempo di Capella, the ligatures,
prolations, and moods, render these books extremely difficult^ to
read, or transcribe in score (p). However, by dint of meditation
and perseverance, I have arranged the parts under each other, of
several movements by all these founders of our church Music,
(»») Notes to Walton's Angler, p. 238, edit, of 1760. If, in the variety of treble
Instruments, the Violin tribe is included, the murder of Harmony is unjustly charged upon the
moderns; as the most imperfect Instruments, with respect to tuning, that are now in use,
were likewise those of the period of musical perfection, so much celebrated. Among these I
include the Organ, Harpsichord, Hautbois, Bassoon, and all Instruments played with Keys, or
blown by Reeds. As to the Flute and Lyre, the most ancient of all, with the Harp, Lute,
Guitar, or Cithara, their imperfections in every Key, except one, need not here be pointed out;
but the Viols of all kinds, which were so much in use during the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, being fretted, could admit of no variety of modulation, without new tuning, or
false intervals; and it would have been more just to have praised than censured modern
instrumental Music, on account of intonation, if for no other excellence, the chief part of
which being executed by VIOLINS and VIOLONCELLOS, admits of a perfection in the
harmony of every Key> which, till these instruments became in general use, was utterly
unknown to the ears or mankind.
*"' (n) Miscel. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 8. (o) Franklin's Philos. Essays, p. 478.
(p) Anthony Wood says, they were thought illegible by the Musicians of lu's time.
VOI,. i. 50. 7^5
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
particularly John Taverner, Dr. Fayrfax, and Dr. Tye; having
scored an entire Mass by each of them: as they are the most ancient
and eminent of these old masters, in whose compositions the style
is grave, and harmony, in general, unexceptionable, if tried by
such rules as were established during their time; but with respect
to invention, air, and accent, the two first are totally deficient.*
The compositions, however, of these early English masters, have
an appearance of national originality, free from all imitation of the
choral productions of the Continent, which have been already
described. Few of the arts of Canon, Inversion, Augmentation, or
Diminution, were as yet practised by them: short Points of
Imitation are sometimes discoverable, but they seem more the
effects of chance than design : and to characterise the chief of these
composers in the order they have been named ; Taverner and
Fayrfax have but little design and no melody in their compositions ;
and it seems as if they should not have been ranked, as they are by
Morley (q), with those of a much higher class, at a later period.
I can venture to give a character of TAVERNER \c. 1495-1545]
from an actual survey of his principal works, which have been
preserved, and which I have taken the pains to score. This author
is in general very fond of slow Notes, so that all his pieces that I
have seen, are ad longam, or, at quickest, alia breve. Long Notes
hi Vocal Music, unless they are to display a very fine voice, have
little meaning, and are wholly destructive of poetry and accent ;
but our old composers have no scruples of that kind ; and being as
great enemies to short syllables, as to short Notes, exercised the
lungs of a singer as frequently upon one as the other.**
As the first essays at harmony were made in extemporary
Discant, upon a Plain-Song, so in written counterpoint it was long a
favourite and useful exercise, to build the several parts of a
movement upon some favourite chant, making it the groundwork of
the composition. And this custom answered several purposes : it
excited ingenuity in the construction of the parts ; it regulated and
restrained the modulation within the ecclesiastical limits ; and as the
plain song had been long used in the church, by the priests and
people, it was still easy for the musical members of the congregation,
to join the cKorus in singing this simple and essential part, while the
choristers and choirmen by profession, performed the new and more
difficult Melodies, which had been superadded to it by the composer.
The first Reformers, or at least their followers, who were perhaps no
great musicians, wished to banish eveiy species of Art from the
church ; and either retaining small portions of ancient chants, or
making melodies in the same plain and simple style for their Hymns
(«) P. 150.
* This set of parts is now known as the Forrest-Heyther Collection and dates from about
1530.
** A collected edition of his Church Music was issued in the Tudor Church Music series
(Vols. i and 3).
From the preface to the first volume the following may be quoted:
"No account of English Polyphony would be complete that did not insist upon his
eminence, not only relatively but absolutely. Relatively, he sums up all the qualities of
his precursors and contemporaries, and expresses all their ideals "
786
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
and Psalms, threw aside all figurative harmony and florid
counterpoint ; and sung in Notes of equal duration, and generally in
mere unison, those tunes which are still retained by the Calvinists,
and in most of the reformed churches in Christendom. At the latter
end of the fifteenth, and during the whole of the sixteenth century,
as some chant or tune was the foundation upon which the harmony
of almost every movement of a Mass or Motet was built, the following
composition by our countryman Maister John Taverner, is given,
not only as a specimen of his abilities in counterpoint, but of the
custom which generally prevailed during his time, of writing upon a
Plain-Song.
John Taverner.
From MSS. in Ch. Ch. Oxon.
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A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
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Avison, for the same purpose; and this is all that it implies, in the examples from other old
Authors, where no Canon is in question.
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789
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
The only Canons I found in the Old Masses preserved in tlie
Music-School at Oxford, which amount to 18, are in a Mass by
Taverner, which he calls 0 Michael; the following is the best of
all the Compositions which I have seen of this Author.
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OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
The following Movements, by Dr. Fayrfax, are selected from his
Mass, Albanus, in the set oS ancient Choral Books belonging to the
Music-School at Oxford, as having more clearness and design, than
any others that I have found among his Works.
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of this kind, written as if essential to the Harmony, frequently occur in old Music.
79*
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
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The Movements in Triple Time, of these Old Masters, in which
it was the Custom to set the Kyrie of every Mass, are the most
unlike Music of the present times, and the most difficult to decipher;
on account of the Ligatures, mixture with black Notes, perfection
and imperfection of the White, occasioned by the Modal sign, and
by position, which render the Notation very embarrassing. Dr.
Tye, in England, and Palestrina, in Italy, seem to have been the first
to quit these Measures.
Verse for 3 Voices, in another Mass by Dr. Fayrfax.
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A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
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There is nothing characteristic in the compositions of Avery
Burton ; and in those of Marbec, of this collection, I can discover
no superiority, in Counterpoint, to the general cast of composition
in Henry the Eighth's reign, which was not only deficient in
Measure and Melody, but in design and contrivance. Here Marbec
appears as a Roman Catholic Composer, the words he has set to
Music being part of the Mass, in Latin ; but we shall have occasion
to speak of him hereafter, in the character of a Protestant, who
distinguished himself, very early, as a friend to the Reformation.
William Kasar, Hugh Ashton, Thomas Ashwell, and John Norman,
may still rest in that peace and obscurity, which they have long
enjoyed ; as their garb is too uncouth, as well as antique, to bear
the inspection of modern critics.
If we were to judge of JOHN SHEPHARD [d. c. 1563] by a
specimen that has lately been given of his abilities, he would seem
the most clumsy Contrapuntist of them all (r), and not only appear
to be less dexterous in expressing his ideas, but to have fewer ideas
to express ; yet, in scoring a Movement by this author, from a set
of MS. books, belonging to Christ-Church College, Oxon, he appears
to me superior to any Composer of Henry the Eighth's reign : in
this production, with which we shall present the reader (s), we have
a regular design, and much ingenuity in the texture of the parts ;
three of which having carried on a Fugue for some time, in the fifth
above, and eighth below the subject, are joined by two other parts,
which form almost a Canon between the Superius and second Base,
to the end of the Movement.*
(r) In the Counter-tenor part, Bar 16, there is a curious leap of a sharp seventh, from A,
down to Bb, and then another up to C, the ninth above. See Hist, of the Science and Practice of
Music, vol. ii. p. 524.
(s) See among the plates/at the end of this Volume, Composition, No. I.
#0nly a few compositions by Shepherd have been published. There is a considerable
amount ox his work in MS., but the parts are frequently incomplete.
Some of his Masses and a few Motets have been scored by Sir Richard R. Terry.
794
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
This shews the fallacy and injustice of determining an author's
character by a single production ; of whom, when more can be
found, the best should be chosen. Anthony Wood tells us that
Shephard supplicated for the degree of Doctor of Music at Oxford,
in 1554, having, before that time, been a Student in Music for the
space of twenty years ; but leaves it doubtful whether his request
was granted.
Of DOCTOR TYE [c. 1500— c. 15723] who survived the
reformation, and contributed greatly to the perfection of our
Cathedral Music, we shall have occasion to speak hereafter ;
however, as an example of his style and abilities before that event,
we shall give a movement from his Mass Euge bone, in the Oxford
Music-School Books, which is much more clear, correct, and
accented, than any other composition in the collection (£).
I have scored several Movements of such Masses and Services
of our old masters, as were composed to Latin words, before the
Reformation ; but must confess, that the reward I received for my
labour was very inconsiderable. Indeed, none of the rules of
Harmony are 'violated, by these venerable Contrapuntists, but there
is such a total want of Design, Subject, Melody, and attention to the
Accent and Meaning of the Words, that the Notes seem to be thrown
upon paper at random ; nor could they be more devoid of meaning,
if the sounds of such keys as these pieces are written in, had issued
from at mill, or been ballotted for in the Laputan manner. But
Johnson and Parsons must not be involved in this censure.
ROBERT JOHNSON,* an Ecclesiastic, and a learned Musician,
was one of the first of our Church Composers, who disposed his parts
with intelligence and design. In writing upon a plain-song, moving
in slow Notes of equal value, which was so much practised in these
times, he discovers considerable art and ingenuity, in the manner
of treating subjects of Fugue and Imitation ; as will be evident from
a composition (u), upon the same chant, and to the same words,
as that upon which Taverner worked, in the example given above
(x), but, in this production, Johnson seems greatly his superior.
ROBERT PARSONS [d. 1569/70] of Exeter, then of the
Royal Chapel, and afterwards Organist of Westminster Abbey, was
admirable in this kind of writing.** The building harmony upon
an ancient ecclesiastical chant, was no more than written Discant,
which is still an exercise for young contrapuntists in the
Conservatorios of Naples, and practised in Italy, by all writers
(t) See No. II. among the Specimens of Composition at the end of the Volume.
(«) See No. III. at the end of the volume.
(*) P. 787.
# Johnson was born at Duns in. Scotland. He took Orders but had to leave Scotland to
escape a charge of heresy. It is thought that he settled in or near Windsor.
MSS. of his works are to be found in the B.M. (Add. MSS. 33933! 30513; 30480-4; 29240; 4900,
etc.), and also in the Bodleian and Christ Church Libraries at Oxford.
** There is no foundation for this statement with reference to the post of Organist at the
Abbey. A John Parsons was organist at Westminster in 1621. and it is probable that he was
the son of Robert Parsons, who was a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal. After his death (he
was drowned in the river at Newark-upon-Trent) his place was taken by William Byrd.
Examples of Parsons work are in the B.M. Add. MSS. 22597; 29246; 31390; 30380-4; and
17786.
795
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
for the church. During the sixteenth century, many of our great
harmonists displayed wonderful science and abilities in these
laborious undertakings, and like some of the proud sovereigns that
were led in triumph by the ancient Romans, preserved an appear-
ance, at least, of dignity and independence, even in chains.
There are some excellent compositions by Parsons in the MSS. of
Christ Church College, Oxford, particularly an Ave Maria, and
an In Nomine (y)\ but as we have already exhibited several
specimens of church music, which do honour to the harmonical
skill of our countrymen, if not to their taste, I shall now present
the reader with a Song by this author, in which, though the melody
and poetiy are somewhat rude, the harmony and modulation will
be found rich and curious (z).
If the Songs in the Fayrfax MS. be excepted, but little of our
secular music of the beginning of the sixteenth century is preserved;*
however, there must have been great plenty of it, such as it was;
for we find that the nobility kept a number of Musicians in their
service, under the denomination of Minstrels, and that these
travelled about to the houses of 'great personages, as well as to the
neighbouring monasteries. The salaries of the Earl of Northumber-
land's Minstrels, and the fees given to those of other noblemen who
visited his castles, have been registered in the Earl's Household
Book; from which I shall extract such passages as immediately
concern my subject (a).
In the year 1512, and third of Henry VIII. a memorandum is
made (6), that three Mynstralls were retained as part of the Earl
of Northumberland's household; viz. a Taberett, a Luyte, and a
Rebec. And afterwards (c) that " Every Mynstrall, if he be a
Taberett, shall have iiij 1; every Luyte and Rebec xxxiij. iiij d;
and to be payd in householde if they have it not by patent or
warraunt."
Sect. XLIII. — " REWARDIS usede customable to be geven
yerely to Stralgers, as Players, Mynstraills, ande others, as the
some of every lewarde, particularly with the consideration why and
wherefore it is geven, with the names of the PARSONS to whom the
said rewardes be geven, &c.
" Furst, My Lorde, usith and accustomyth to gyf to the King's
Jugler if he have wone, when they custome to come unto hym
yerely — viz. viiij d.
. (y). This was an ancient Chant to that part of the Mass, beginning Banedictus qui venit
in nomine Domini, upon which the English masters of the sixteenth century had areat delicht
in exercising their science and ingenuity.
(z) See No. IV. at the end of the Vol.
(a) These very curious domestic annals were printed and presented to the friends of his
2?f,ace ir «ke ,°. Northumberland, and the learned editor, in 1770, under the following
?2l:wrV h8uj£iioni f^*#/*im«* of the Household of Henry Algernon Percy? the
ftth Earl of Northumberland, at his Castles of Wresill and Lekinfield, in Yorkshire, begun 1512.
(b) Sect. v. p. 45. (c) p, ^
* Mulliner's Book (B.M. Add. MSS. 30513). a collection of 117 pieces for the or/?an and
probably made about 1550, shows the state of key-board music of th« period.
796
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
" Item, My Lorde usith and accustomyth to gyf yerely the Kynge
or the Queen's Barwarde, if they have wone, when they custom
to com unto him yerely — vj s. viij d.
" Item, My Lorde usith and accustomyth to gyf yerely to every
Erlis Mynstrellis, when they custome to come to hym yerely, iij s.
iiij d. Ande if they come to my Lord seldome, ones in ij or iij
yeres, than vj s, viij d.
" Item, My Lord usith and accustomyth to gyf yerely to an
Erls Mynstrall, if he be his speciall Lorde, Frende, or Kynsman,
if they come yerely to his lordschipe. . . . And if they come seldom,
ones in ij or iij yeres — vi s. viij d (£).
ff Item, My Lorde usith ande accustomyth to gyf yerely a Dookes
or Erlis Trumpetts, if they com vj together to his lordshipp, viz. if
they come yerly vi s. viij d. ande if they come but in ij or iij yeres,
than — x s.
" Item, My Lorde useth and accustometh yerely, when his
lordshipp is at home, to gyf to iij of the Kynges Shames, when they
come to my Lorde yerely — x s (e).
" Item, My Lorde usith ande accustomyth to gyf yerely, when
his lordschipp is at home, to his Mynstraills that be daly in his
Houshold, as his Tabret, Lute, and Rebec, upon new-yeres-day
in the mornynge, when they doo play at my Lordis chambre doure,
for his Lordschipe and my Lady, xx s. viz. xiij s. iiij d. for my
Lorde, and vi s. viiij d. for my Lady, if sche be at my Lords
fyndynge and not at her owen. And for playing at my Lordis Sone
and heir Chaumbre doure the Lord Percy, ij s. And for playinge
at the Chaumbre doores of my Lords yonger Sonnes my yonge
Maisters, after viij the pece for every of them — xxiij s. iiij d (f).
" Item, My Lorde usith and accustomyth to gyf yerely when his
lordshipe is at home upon New-yeres-day, to his lordshipis vj
Trompettes, when they doo play at my Lords Chaumbre Doure, the
said New-Yers-Day in the Mornynge xx s. viz. xiij s. iiij d. for my
Lord, vj s. viij d. for my Lady, if sche be at my Lords fyndynge and
not at hir owen — xx s. (g)."
This Earl's Chapel-establishment in 1512, was equal to that of
a Cathedral; for we find it recorded in the same family-kalendar,
that the " Gentillmen of the Chappell consisted of x Parsons — As
to say — Two at x Marc a pece — Three at iiij 1. apece — Two at v
Marc a pece — oone at xl s. and oone at xxs. viz. ij Basses, ij
Tenors, and vj Countertenors — Childeryn of the Chappell vj after
xxv s. the pece. (h)."
(d) P. 339-
(e) I am in possession of other proofs that the Minstrels of the principal Nobility and
Gently visited the houses of their patrons' friends on great Festivals, or, at least, annually,
which I transcribed from the household account-book of the L'Estrange family, now in the
possession of Nicholas Styleman, Esq.., of Snettisham, Norfolk. This register was begun in
1508, the last year of Henry the Seventh, and continued till 1544. It is entirely in the hand-
writing of the lady of Sir Thomas .L'Estrange, who was a daughter of Lord Vaux.
" To the Duke of Suffolke's Trompetts, and to my Lord Privy Sealles Minstrelks.
"To my Lord of Rutland's Minstrelles.
"To Mr. Hogans Minstrels, and my lord Fitzwaters Jogeler, &c." P. 34*.
(/) P. 343-
(ff) P. 344- W P-47.
797
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
In 1514 the number of Performers on the establishment was
augmented: " Item, it is thought by my Lord and his Councell,
that there shall be yerely ij Gentfflmen of the Chappel COUNTER-
TENORS, more than ordynarie appointed in the Booke of Orders
of Housholde (i). Bicause it is now percyvid there was to fewe
Gentillmen before in nomber appoynted in the Booke of Orders to
kepe both Mattyns, Ladie Masse, Highe Masse, and Evyn-Songe
(k), to serve the Queare, and to kepe the iiij Rector Choryes upon
principal feests, who are ordeynde to be had for that cause."
Though a person is appointed in one part of these regulations
(Z), to play on the Orgaynes, yet, in general, this office was not the
department of a single individual, but of every Choir-man, "oon
after an outher, ande " it is ordered, that " every man that is a
player shall keepe his cours weikely (w)."
The nobility of these times, in imitation of Royalty, had, among
other officers of their houshold, a Master of the Revels, " for the
overseyinge and orderinge of Playes and Interludes and dressing
that is plaid in the xii Dayes of Crestenmas (»)." Of these, the
Gentleman and Children of the Chapel seem to have been the
principal performers; for which, and for acting upon other great
festivals, they are assigned particular rewards: " Item, my Lorde
vseth to gyf yerely when his Lordeship is at home, in reward to
them of his Lordschip Chappel, that doith play upon Shroftewsday
at night, xs." And when they performed in the Dramatic Mysteries,
such as " the play of the Nativity at Crestenmas (o), or of the
Resurrection upon Esturday (p)," they were allowed xxs. The
boys had also an extraordinary compensation " of vj. viijd. for
occasionally singing in the responde callede Exaudivi at the
Matynstyme for xj thousand Vergyns uppon Alhallowday — and
Gloria in excelsis uppon Cristenmas-Day in the Mornynge." This
magnificent nobleman dying 1527, his son, the sixth Earl, whose
passion for Ann Bullen is supposed to have occasioned his disgrace
at court, seems to have been treated with great insolence and
indignity by Cardinal Wolsey, who, by an extraordinary stretch of
power, to which the Earl thought it prudent to submit, demanded
his Choral Books, for the use of his own Chapel. Letters concerning
this requisition are still preserved in the family, in which the Earl
says, " I do perceayff my Lorde Cardinalls pleasour ys to have
such Boks as was in the Chapdl of my lat Lord and ffayther (wos
soil Jhu pardon). To the accomplychment of which at your
desyer, I am confformable, notwithstandinge I trust to be able ons
(0 Where so many natural countertenor Voices, which are so difficult to find at present,
w*«> procured at t^ remote period, is not easy to discover. Sometimes, however, there was
a different arrangement in the Earl's Chapel; as we find it composed, p. 324, of 3 Basses, 4
Tenors, and 4 Countertenors,, with 6 Boys; at this time, one of the Countertenors was Maister
of the Chilaer. ' . ."
V ®\ The Evy»HSo»£fwas now sung at 3 o'clock, as we find by an order for the domestics
to meet at ten of the clok to awaite at dynner till oon, that dynner be doon; and to remain
in the Great Chamnbre daily at aftfenoon from oon imto three of the Clok, that they ryng to
-
® P-44. (») p. 343
(o) P. 343.. fo) p. jua.
798
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
to set up a Chapelle off myne owne — I shall with all sped send
up the Boks unto my Lords Grace, as to say iiij Antiffonars
(Antiphoners), such as I think wher not seen a gret wyll — v Grails
(Graduals) — an Ordeorly (Ordinal) — a Manuall — viij Prossessioners
(Processionals)."
Indeed the magnificence of Cardinal Wolsey's own Chapel-
establishment, as described by Cavendish, his cotemporary and
domestic, seems to have surpassed that of the Roman Pontiff
himself.
First, he had there a Deane, a great Divine, and a man of
excellent learning; a Sub-dean, a Repeatour of the Quire, a
Gospeller and Epistollor; of singing Priests, ten, a Master of the
Children. The seculars of the Chapell, being singing-men, twelve;
Singing-children, ten, with one servant to waite upon them. In
the Vestry, a Yeoman and two Grooms; over and besides other
retainers that came thither at principal feats. And for the furniture
of his Chapell, it passeth my weak capacity to declare the number
of the costly ornaments and rich jewels that were occupied in the
same. For I have seen in procession about the hall 44 rich Copes,
besides the rich Candlesticks, and other necessary ornaments to the
furniture of the same (q)."
Our vindictive and voluptuous monarch, Henry the Eighth,
had studied Music very seriously in his youth, according to Lord
Herbert of Cherbury : who tells us, in his life, that " his education
was accurate, being destined to the Archbishoprick of Canterbury,
during the life of his elder brother, Prince Arthur. — By these
means, not only the more necessary parts of learning were infused
into him, but even those of ornament, so that besides being an able
Latinist, Philosopher, and Divine, he was (which one might wonder
at in a King) a curious Musician; as two entire Masses composed
by him, and often sung in his Chapel, did abundantly witness
M-"
Hollingshead likewise (s) informs us, in describing the manner
in which Henry employed his time, during his progress from one
palace to another, that " He exercised himself daylie in shooting,
singing, dancing, wrestling, casting of the barre, plaieing at the
recorders, flute, virginals, in setting of Songes, and making of
Ballades."
The attention that was paid to Choral Music during the reign of
this Prince, before his breach with the Roman Pontiff, may be
collected from a set of regulations given to the royal household about
the year 1526, by Cardinal Wolsey ; in which it is said, that ' 'when the
s Chapel, verbatim, from Cavendish. Survey of London, edit. 1618, p. 137.
(r) Burnet, though he denies, in his History of the Reformation, part i. p. 11, that Henry
was ever intended for the Church, yet allows that he was better educated than any other
prince had been for many ages; and that he was "a good Musician, as appears by two whole
Masses which he composed"; but adds, that "he never wrote well, but scrawled, so that his
hand was scarce legible."
(s) Chron. iU. 806.
799
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
King is on journies or progresses, only six singing boys, and six
Gentlemen of the Choir, shaft make a part of the royal retinue ; who
daylie in absence of the residue of the Chapel, shall have a Masse of
our Ladie before noon, and on Sondaies and holidaies, Masse of the
daie, besides our Lady-Masse, and an Anthempne in the afternoon :
for which purpose, no great carriage of either vestiments or bookes
shall require (t)."
It is generally allowed that Henry could not only perform the
Music of others, but was sufficiently skilled in Counterpoint to
compose the pieces that go under his name («). To be able to sing
a part in the full pieces of the time, was thought a necessary
accomplishment in this age, not only for a private gentleman (x),
but a prince. Sandoval, in his Life of the Emperor Charles the
Fifth (y), tells us, that " he was a great friend to the science of
Music, and after his abdication, would have the Church-officers only
accompanied by the Organ, and sung by fourteen or fifteen Fryers,
who were good Musicians, and had been selected from the most
expert Performers of the order. He was himself so skilful, that he
knew if any other singer intruded, and if any one made a mistake,
he would cry out, such a one is wrong, and immediately mark the
man. He was earnest too, that no seculars should come in ; and
one evening, when a Contralto, from Placentia, stood near the desk
with the Singers, and sung one verse with them eminently well,
before he could sing another, some of the barbarians ran, and told
the Prior to turn him out of the Choir, or, at least, bid him hold
his tongue."
" The Emperor understood Music, felt, and tasted its charms:
the Fryers often discovered him behind the door, as he sate in his
own apartment, near the high altar, beating time, and singing in
part with the performers ; and if any one was out, they could
overhear him call the offender names, as Redheaded Blockhead, &c.
A Composer from Seville, of my own acquaintance, continues his
Biographer, whose name was Guerrero (z), presented him with a book
of Motets and Masses ; and when one of these Compositions had
been sung as a specimen, the Emperor called his confessor, and
said, see what a thief, what a plagiarist, is this son of a — ! why
here, says he, this passage is taken from one Composer, and this
from another, naming them as he went on. All this while the Singers
(t) "ORDINAUNCES made for the Kinges Household and Chaumbers." Bibl. Bodl. MSS.
Laud. K. 48. fol. For this information I am obliged to Mr. Warton's History of Poetry, vol. iii
p. 158.
(«) See an Anthem in Boyce's collection. He was likewise author of a Motet, of which
Dr. Hayes of Oxford, is in possession of a genuine copy, in which the first Movement is in a
measure wholly different from a Score of the same composition that has been lately printed.
(#) See Nuga Antiqua, vol. i. p. 22, 133. First Edit, published by Dr. Harrington, of
Bath; himself an excellent judge of Music, and Composer of several Catches that are justly
admired for their humour and contrivance.
(y) Historia de ta vida del Emperador Carlos Quinto por el nteastro don Fray Prudencio
de Sandoval, su Coronista, Obisfo de Pamplona. Fol. 1614.
(z) Not Guerino, as he is called by Bonet. Hist, de la Musique.
800
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
stood astonished, as none of them had discovered these thefts, till
they were pointed out by the Emperor (a)/'
Brantome (6) tells us, that " both Charles the Ninth, and his
brother Henry the Third, in imitation of their father, used frequently
to quit their places at Mass, in order to join the choirmen in
performing the service at their desks ; and were able to sing either
the Treble or Countertenor very correctly. Charles was very fond
of these singers, particularly of M. de Laurens, who had a very fine
voice. His successor also sung very well, but was pleased with a
different kind of music." The French historians speak of the
attachment to church music, of several of their sovereigns, from the
time of Pepin and Charlemagne, to the monarchs just mentioned,
many of whom used to put on a surplice, in order to sing with the
caiions, and chanters, by profession.
The favourites of unfortunate princes, in turbulent and
convulsive times, are generally involved in the calamities of their
patrons, particularly, if, from a principle of affection or gratitude;
they manifest a zeal for their service: but it is somewhat
remarkable, that in the short space of twenty-nine years, the
favourite musicians of three Queens upon the same island, should
fall sacrifices to suspicion and vengeance.
Mark Smeaton, a musician, in the service of Anne Bullen, and
groom of her chamber, was executed May 12th, 1536, (c). Thomas
Abel, who taught music and grammar to Queen Catharine, wife to
Henry the Eighth, having written a treatise, De non dissolvendo
Henrici & Cathirinae Matrimonio, was hanged and quartered, July
30th, 1540. And David Rizzio, secretary to Mary Queen of Scots,
was murdered in her presence, March 9th, 1565 (d).
(a) This passage is so curious, that I shall here give it in the original.
"Era muy amigo de la Musica, y que le dixessen los oficios en Canto de Organo cental,
que no cantessen sino Frayles, que si bien eran catorze o quinze los Musicos, -porquA se avian
llevado alii los mejores de la orden, conocia, si entre ellos cantava otro, y st erravan dezia :
fulano crro, y en tanto los conocia, y queria, que no cantassen siglarts entre ellos que unas
visperas vino un contra alto de Placencia muy bueno yllegose al iacistol con los Cantoresf y
Canto con elks un verso muy bien : Pero no tor no, a cantar el segundo porluego vino uno de
los barbaros corriendo, y dixo al Prior, que echasse aquel Canto fuera del Coro, y affi si le
vuo de dezir que calasse. Y entendia la Musica, y sentia, y gustava della, que muchas vexes
les escuchavan Frayles detras de la puerta, que salia de su aposinto al altar mayor, y le veyan
llevar el compos, y cantar a consonanda con los que cantaven en Coro, y si alguno si errava
dezia consigo mismo. 0 hideputa bermejo, que a quel erro, o otro nombre semejante.
Presentole un Maestro de Capilla de Sevilla, que yo conoci, que se dezia Guerrero, tin libro de
Motetes que el avia Compuesto, y de Missas, y mando que cantassen una Missa por el, y
acabada la Missa embio a llamar al Confessor, y dixole: 0 hideputa que sotil ladron es esse
Guerrero, que tal passo de fulano, y tal de fulano hurto : de que quedaron lodos los Cantores
admirados, que ellos no lo avian entendido hasta que despues lo vieron." Segunda parte, p.
828. § vii.
(&) Tom. ix. p. 459-
(c) "Sineaton was prevailed on by the vain hope of life, to confess a criminal
correspondence with 'the queen; but even her enemies expected little advantage from this
confession : for they never dared to confront him with her." Hume's Hist, of Eng. Hen. VIII.
chap. v. "The Queen said he was never in her chamber, but when the King was last at
Winchester; and then he came in to play on the Virginals, She said, that she never spoke to
him after that, but on Saturday before May-Day, when she saw him standing in the window,
and then she asked him, why he was so sad? He said it was no matter: she answered, you
may not look to have me speak to you, as if you were a nobleman, since you are an inferior
person. No, no, Madam, said he, a look sufficeth me." Burnet's Hist, of the Reform, vol. i.
book iii. p. 199.
(d) Hume, who seems to treat this transaction with more reason, philosophy, and
candour, than any other historian among his countrymen, says: "The favourite was of a
disagreeable figure, but was not past his youth; and though the opinion of his criminal
correspondence with queen Mary might seem of itself unreasonable, if not absurd, a suspicious
husband could find no other means of accounting for that lavish and imprudent kindness, with
which she honoured him." Hist, of Eng. Eliz. chap. ii. ist edit. p. 466.
Vor,. i. 51. 801
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
With respect to this last, it need only be remarked, that this
assassination was no proof of guilt ; for so ferocious, savage, and
vindictive were the times, and so frequent the plots, conspiracies,
and murders, that if the death of each individual who was
treacherously slain, had been entered in the kalendar of Scotland, it
would have been as crowded as the rubric of the Romish church (e}.
If, however, we compare the frail and suspicious character of these
domestic AOIAOI, with that of the philosophical and conscience-
keeping Bards of the Trojan times, who were a sort of domestic
chaplains, or musical Dragons, perhaps peculiarly qualified for their
employment, we shall find a great degeneracy in their manners and
morals. It has already been related in the First Book (/), that when
^Egisthus wanted to corrupt Clytemnestra, he was obliged to put
to death the Bard that Agamemnon had left as her Dueno, by leaving
him in a desert island (g).
At the time that Henry had determined to emancipate himseit
and the nation from Papal restraints and usurpations, passion,
perhaps, operated more than reason; and a regular and general
plan of Reformation, so far from being digested, seems never to
have been in meditation, during his life time; at least, with respect
to ecclesiastical Music, no other change was made than that of
applying it to English words.
The alterations, according to Burnet, which the Bishops, who
were appointed to examine the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church,
made in the Mass, " were inconsiderable, and so slight, that there
was no need of reprinting, either the Missals, Breviaries, or other
offices; for a few erasures of the Collects in which the Pope was
prayed for, of Thomas £ Becket's office, and the offices of other
Saints, whose days were, by the King's injunctions, no more to be
observed, with some other deletions made, that the old books did
still serve (&)."
Collier («), tells us, that Archbishop Cranmer himself first
adjusted the translation of the Litany to a Chant. In a letter,
written by this Prelate to Henry the Eighth, 1545,* which is,
preserved in the Paper-office, he tells his Majesty, that according
to his Highness's commandment, he had translated into the English
tongue, certain processions to be used upon festival days. " The
judgment whereof I refer wholly to your Majesty, and after your
Highness has corrected it, if your Grace, commands some devout
and solemn note to be made thereunto (as is to the procession
which your Majesty has already set forth in English) (k), I trust
it will much excitate and sti$ the hearts, of all men to devotion and
- («) The controverted point of Rizzio having been the author of the Scots Tunes which go
under his name, will be discussed hereafter, when National Music comes to be considered.
(/) P.- 152. (g) Odyss.l 265, £ seq.
(h) Hist. Reform, vol. i. p. 294. (t) Scales. Hist. vol. ii. p. 206.
(K) This parenthesis alludes to the Prayers, Processions, and Litanies, which the King had
translated into the English tongue, the preceding year, and sent to the Archbishop of CajiterDury,
for the use qf his province; with an order for their being said and 'sung in all Churches, which
is preserved in Burnet. Hist. Reform, vol. i. p. 331 ana Collect. Book iii. Ns. xxviii.
*Cranmer's translation was published on 27th May, 1544.
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
goodness. But in my opinion, the Song that shall be made there-
unto, would not be full of Notes, but as near as may be, for every
syllable a note, so that it may be sung distinctly and devoutly, as
be in the Mattins, and Even-Song, Venite. The Hymns Te Deum,
Benedictus, Magnificat, Nunc Dimittis, and all the Psalms and
Versicles: and in the Mass, Gloria in Eccelsis, Gloria Pain, the
Credo, the Perfice, the Pater Noster, and some of the Sanctus and
Agnus. As concerning the Salve festa dies, the Latin note, as I
think, is sober and distinct enough. Wherefore I have traveTd
to make the verses in English, and have put the Latin note unto
the same. Nevertheless, those that be cunning in Singing, can
make a much more solemn Note thereto, I made them only for a
proof, to see how English would do in a Song/'
But the whole English Cathedral service, including the Preces,
Prayers, and Responses, were set to musical Notes and first
published in 1550, by JOHN MARBECK, Organist of Windsor.
The premature reforming zeal of this Musician, nearly made a
martyr of him, in the time of Henry the Eighth. He had indeed,
the honour of being condemned to the stake, with three other
persons, who were burnt for Heresy, but was pardoned by the
intercession of Sir Humphry Foster (/).
His notation of the English Cathedral service was published
under the following title.
5800k 0f
Imprinted by Richard Grafton, Priuter to the Kinges Majestic,
cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum.
As this book is become very scarce, I shall present the reader
with a considerable extract from it.
** fa tbia Bopke is contejrnedfo nmche of the Qx£er o£ COUUBQQ Frajr
»er a» la. ta be fong in Churtphefc; ^herein are ufed ofcljr thefe tit t. for tea
The firft Note is a ftrene Nate, (a ) and is a. Breve. Ifce fecxjad i* a
fquare Note, and is a Semy-Breve.The in a* Pycke and is a Mynjmme. 5c
where there Is a Prycke by the fquare Nate, that Prycke iahal£a» mncha
as the Note that goeth before it. The tiii^is aClofe,and is only ofed
at the end of a
(a) Strained, or stretched out: perhaps from its being the longest Note, used in Chanting.-
Juntas makes Strene and Strain synoniroous.
S!) Fox, in his Acts and Afo»a«»ew^,.'and Burnett, tti$t>. of the Rtfjorm, give a circumstantial
of the troubles in which Marbeck was involved, on account of religion.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
Mattins .
Tte duere with the
o
arte in He»__ven, ha .. - lo ftc
Prieft.
O Lorde o _ .. pen thou • my Lippe»
Aunf. *
And my Mouth fhal fh«w forth th^ F-raif.
Te Deum Lau damns .
• " /?N TV
V/e prayt* the, O Lorde , we Icnow^lege the to b« the Lorde.
All 'the earth doth worfhipp the, the* Fa..ther e - - ver- -lalt - ing.
To tbe al Ang«l» cry • ^ loud ,the Heave nn, and all the Vowcr* therin.
To th* Ch«-*iu-bin, and Se- - r« _ phtn, con - ti - nu - -«1 - ^ ly
^* . _ _ _- - f£i —
• i,[H n n H n - • • - n •
do <?rjr«; Uo..l7^ Ho -.-!>•,» Ho-.Kt Lorde Ood of Sa.-h»--oth.
•
i and flarth are fall of tbe Mm - * jef - t/e of thy
P • •** * ^ fci • • • • • i
"""11
The glo« ri^ out. . Com^pm . nj- of tKe A' ^ poft - le& yrarfe the.
• _ _^ ^ . /T\
"••••" ~r ""• ••• •" n n [
The good.^Ij ^jtl^^-tow^ fhip of the frophettet, orajrfe the.
i. . • n • - rg^s -
Tk«.mo.bU Ac-mjr •* Mirtyft pn/O tbe. Tke H«.^r Churob throu&hoitt
80*
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
all tlie WoclA doth knowlege the. The Fa - th
* _ ite Ma--jef--tye. Thjr ho- -nor - a- -bl«, ttuej and on- -lye Sonhe.
AU-fo the Ho^-ly Choft the Comfort--.tr. Thoxt arte th« Kjrng of
Glorye, O Chrift. Thou arte the e -- verlaft -- ing Sonne of t|e Fa - ther.
• •§
When thou toki ft np — on the to dc - - li - - ver Man thou dideft not
/?\
r • • • m •-,!,-• • •» V • P " =5E
abborre the Virgins Wombe. When thou haddeft o- vcr come the fharpnes
tt Dcath,thou dideft open the Kyngdome ol Heaven to all be - Never*!
Thod fittest on the right hand of^ God, in the GIo - rye of the Fa - thei
B °|, „ • r
We be - lieve that thou (halt come to be oar Judge. We ther - fore pray
fche, help* thy (ervauntet whom thon hait re - deem - ed with thy» jire . ci -
ous bio- d. Make them to be nombred wyth thy Saints in Glo -**rye e -
verlaft - ing. & Lord«, lave thy People, and bleffe thyne he - ri - rage.
Governe tkcm and lift them up for e - vcr. Day by Day we mag - ni
'
- - fie the And we worfhtpp thy Name c - - vcr World *vylh - out
Vcuchfafe, O Lordc to kepe us th'u Day without Sinne. O Lotrde have
805
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
•
ia " p
Mer-cj op --on us, have Mercy up - - on us. O Lorde letl thy
flrar-s-g-TFa-^-*--* • • • nf^ |
Msr - cy lighten up - ou us, as our truft is in Thee. O Lord
in Thee have I truf.-tcd, lett me ne--ver be con - found - ed.
After the Second Leffon one of thefe that follow.
Blef - red be the Lorde God of II - - ra - - el
*
for he hath Vi-it - ed and. Re - deem - cd Jiis People.
Tjlc (ame Chant re'
peated to the end.
EH -fed be the Lorde God of If - - ra - - cl . for he hath
it •
Vi - { - ted and Re * de - med. his People. &c to the end
In this manner the whole Morning and Evening Service, as it is
now Chan ted,is fet; except the Litany. At the end is the Name of
MEBBECXE.
At this time, the Plain-Song of the Romish church in the
chants of the principal Hymns and Responses, remained nearly
the same, as may be seen in comparing the Te Deum laudamus,
and other parts of the cathedral service, in this publication, with
the Missals, Graduals, and Antiphonaria of those times. The chant
to the Te Deum, as published by Meibomius (m)f from a copy
nearly as ancient as the hymn itself, and another example of the
same Canto Ferino, given by Glareanus (ri), in 1547, correspond
exactly with that which was retained by Marbeck, at the time of
(m) Antique Mus. Auct. Sept. Amst. 1652. Vide Pr&f. Lectori benevolo.
(n) Dodecad. p. no.
;«<*>
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
the Reformation : as the Mode, the Dominant, and Medius, are all
the same; nor is the least deviation discoverable, except where the
different number of syllables in the translation required it, and
which affect the melody no more, than those slight changes which
happen in the manner or use of any two choirs in singing the
same chants, or even in adjusting different stanzas of any song to
the same tune (o).
Marbeck was admitted in 1549, to the degree of Bachelor in
Music, at Oxford, according to Anthony Wood (p), who erroneously
calls him James Marbeck: he is honourably mentioned by Bale,
because he had been persecuted by the Catholics, and his name is
omitted by Pitts, for the same reason.
It seems as if we may safely conclude, that the chief part of
such portions of Scripture, or hymns of the church as have been
set by English musicians to Latin words, were produced before the
Reformation, or, at least, in Queen Mary's time; that is, before the
year 1558, when Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne, by which
time a school of counterpoint was formed in this country, that
was equal, at least, to that of any other part of Europe. A reason,
however, may be assigned for the choral music of every Christian
country, aproaching perfection by nearly equal strides.
Before the Reformation, as there was but one religion, there
was but one kind of music in Europe, which was Plain Chant, and
the discant built upon that foundation; and as this music was
likewise only applied to one language, the Latin, it accounts for the
Compositions of Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Flanders, and
England, keeping pace with each other, in style and excellence.
All the arts seem to have been the companions, if not the produce,
of successful commerce; and they will, in general, be found to have
pursued the same course, which an admirable modern Historian
has so well delineated (q): that is, like Commerce, they will be
found, upon enquiry, to have appeared first in Italy; then in the
Hanseatic towns; next in the Netherlands; and by transplantation,
during the sixteenth century, when commerce became general, to
have grown, flourished, matured, and diffused their influence, in
every part of Europe.
If this were a place to illustrate such an idea, it would be easy
to shew, that ecclesiastical music in the middle ages, was all
derived from the Papal chapel, and court of Rome; that counter-
point was first cultivated for their use; that it travelled thence to
the Hanseatic towns, and 'the Netherlands, where the affluence,
which flowed from successful commerce, afforded encouragement
and leisure for its cultivation; till about the middle of the sixteenth
century, when, by the general intercourse which traffic and the
new art of printing introduced, all the improvements in harmony,
which had been made in Italy and the low Countries, were
(o) A review of the Cathedral service, was published by Edward Lowe, in a similar
manner, at Oxford, 1664; and, as more than a hundred years have elapsed since any book ol
this kind has appeared, it seems as if another* were now wanting.
(p) Fasti Qxon. (q) Hist, of Charles the Fifth, vol. i. sect. I.
so?
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
communicated to every other part of Europe; which not only
stimulated the natives to adopt and imitate them, but to improve
and render them more different, by their own Inventions and
Refinements.
We are now arrived at the Reformation, and middle of the
sixteenth century; a period which seems favourable for closing
this Book, already more bulky than the first. My original intention
was, to comprise the whole work in two books; but I soon
discovered, with some degree of shame and mortification, that to
have bestowed no more pages on modern Music, concerning which
we have so much certain information, than upon the ancient, of
which, so little can now be even conjectured, would be like allowing
one volume in a History of England, to the Heptarchy, and only
one to all subsequent times.
At first, imagining that there would be no need of compression,
and, indeed, not seeing the whole compass of my subject, I
ransacked antiquity for whatever materials it could furnish,
relative to the music of the Greeks and Romans, of which the
effects have been so splendidly described, and which have long
remained, and, it is to be feared, ever will remain, Enigmas to all
who have the misfortune to be born too late for the Strains of
Swans and Sirens. When I quitted these enquiries, to survey the
rest of my labours, I saw " Alps on Alps arise," which it was
impossible to ascend without great pain and perseverance; however,
as only one could be assailed at a time, I still was obliged to work
in detail at particular parts, without bestowing much attention on
the whole : and in this manner a second Book has been produced.
If I committed an error, in allotting too many pages of my work
to the ancient Music, it would have been ill-corrected, by bestowing
too few on the modern. Thus, as one error produced a Second
Book, before the completion of my design, so will a Second produce
a Third; which, soon after the close of the first, appeared inevitable,
unless, all proportion of the whole, to its parts, ha»d been sacrificed.
It has never been my wish, or intention, to be always in the
Press; or to keep memory and reflection on the rack, at the expence
of every moment of leisure for enjoyment or amusement. My
industry, in this undertaking, has not been stimulated by profit,
and the reputation of an author becomes daily less alluring, as
reflection shews it to be more uncertain. Yet, a repugnance to
abandoning, unaccomplished, an enterprise, for which such pains
and expence have been bestowed in procuring materials, would be
still an incitement to new efforts, though every other should fail.
This apology, for the amplification of my original plan, seems
due to my first subscribers. I have been obliged, extremely
against my inclination, to depart from the letter of my Proposals;
but as it has been done with no selfish or sinister views, my wish
being only to reader my work more worthy the honour of their
patronage, I venture to hope, that no great moral turpitude will
be found in the addition, at some future time, of a THIRD BOOK.
END OF THE SECOND BOOK.
808
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
No. I. Motettus.
JOHN SHEPHERD,
...M...ri - - — „- Jr A -L
+JThis is another instance of a mere ^ Appoggiatura being written as an essential Note.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
MlSlTN.
NES
DIMI..
MISIT^JN
" .A
rPp"
DIMI.;
SITINA
dt
I
DIMI . .<
SIT IN. A
DIMI --Sir- IN- A
•IMES" • Dl-MISlT IN -A.,
m
^
ef A. J-
ST 1NA.
---- -NES
NES
IN -
DIMI -
SIT HA
^•JJJ 1J^
^
IN
a^^?
NES
JNA
^ --• Ng
ilSfc:
* • * -vii
^iifF
±£
•810
»f
OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
No. II. The opening of Dr. Tye's Mass, Euge Bone, from the
antient Choral Books, preserved in the Music School at Oxford.
Triplex
Medius
Contra
Tenor
Sextus
Tenor
Bassus
UU,. r I
1 — ;> r * ' fi
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813
A GENERAL HISTORY OF MUSIC
No. III. Robert Johnson. From the MSS. of Ch. Ch. Oxon.
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OF MUSIC AFTER THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
VOL. i. 52.
Here is a succes-
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traiy motion; a license
which the host old Masters
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furnishes, would be difficult
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817
PRINTED BY
THE MARSHALL PRESS LTD.
MILFORD LANE, STRAND
LONDON, W.C.2
109801
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